ESSAYS  IN  PURITANISM 


•4? AN  DREW  MACPHAIL 


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.'{'\''>: 
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REESE  LIBRARY 

OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA. 


.1  re. 


Class     /v^nS 


ESSAYS  IN  PURITANISM 


ESSAYS  IN  PUHITANISM 


BY 


ANDREW  MACPHAIL 


BOSTON  AND  NEW  YORK 

HOUGHTON,  MIFFLIN  AND  COMPANY 

(Cbe  iaiber^ibe  pre??,  CamtidbgE 

1905 


'■ss 


COPYRIGHT    1905    BY   ANDREW   MACPHAIL 
ALL    RIGHTS    RESERVED 

Published  March  iqo5 


NOTE 

The  five  essays  which  are  contained  in  this  book 
were  first  read  before  a  company  of  artists  who 
had  the  traditional  antipathy  of  their  class  to- 
wards the  spirit  of  Puritanism.  Any  one  who 
should  chance  to  read  these  writings  is  asked  to 
keep  that  local  circumstance  in  view.  Else  he 
might  think  that  they  betray  the  spirit  of  the 
amateur,  of  the  dogmatist,  of  the  pedagogue  ;  that 
is,  if  they  be  regarded  as  a  wanton  excursion  into 
the  precincts  of  literature.  The  persons  to  whom 
these  pieces  were  addressed  were  of  the  opinion 
that  Jonathan  Edwards  manifested  the  spirit  of 
Puritanism  in  the  pulpit ;  that  John  Winthrop 
showed  that  spirit  at  work  in  the  world;  that 
Margaret  Fuller's  career  was  the  blind  striving 
of  the  artistic  sense  for  expression  ;  that  Walt 
Whitman's  conduct  was  a  revolt  against  the  false 
conventions  which  had  grown  up  in  his  world ; 
and  that  John  Wesley  endeavoured  to  make 
religion  useful  to  humanity  once  more. 

"  Et  quand  personne  ne  me  lira,  ay  je  perdu 
mon  temps,  de  m^estre  entretenu  tant  d'heures 
oisifves  a  des  pensements  si  utiles  et  agreables : 
Comhien  defois  m^a  cette  hesogne  diverty  de 
cogitations  ennuyeuses  f  "  —  Montaigne,  ii,  18. 


300 


CONTENTS 

I.    Jonathan  Edwards   .....  1 

II.    John  Winthrop 69 

III.  Margaret  Fuller       .         .         .         .         .  151 

IV.  Walt  Whitman 221 

V.   John  Wesley 276 


I 

JONATHAN  EDWARDS 


JONATHAN  EDWAKDS 

There  used  to  be  a  presumption  that  theology- 
had  something  to  do  with  religion,  and,  inasmuch 
as  religion  undoubtedly  has  to  do  with  God,  the 
three,  religion,  theology,  and  God,  were  insensibly 
brought  together  into  an  unnatural  trinity.  It 
was  not  long  before  theology  dominated  the  com- 
pact ;  its  devotees  at  once  proceeded  to  define  and 
limit  the  sphere  within  which  Providence  might 
exercise  its  beneficent  influence,  and  religion  was 
left  entirely  out  of  consideration.  It  is  difficult 
in  any  compact  for  all  the  persons,  if  one  might 
so  name  them,  to  sustain  the  ideal  relations  of 
equality  in  power  and  glory,  and  in  this  case  the 
theologians  went  too  far.  The  astrologers  never 
undertook  to  say  upon  whom  the  sun  should 
shine  and  the  rain  fall;  there  have  been  rain- 
makers, of  course,  but  they  lost  all  credibility 
long  before  the  theologians  lost  theirs. 

We  must  appreciate  the  strength  of  the  belief 
that  there  is  an  essential  association  between 
theology  and  religion,  if  we  would  have  any 
understanding  of  the  times  in  which  that  belief 


4  ESSAYS  IN  PURITANISM 

prevailed  ;  and  we  must  not  be  deterred  by  the 
strangeness  of  the  idea,  for  doubtless  we  ourselves 
possess  notions  which  are  equally  curious.  We 
hold  that  literature  has  a  dominating  influence 
upon  life ;  that  science  has  some  bearing  upon 
religion ;  that  art  has  something  to  do  with  mor- 
ality; that  there  is  a  percej)tion  of  right  and 
wrong,  of  good  and  evil,  in  nature. 

It  is  a  lack  of  seriousness  on  our  part  which 
prevents  our  appreciating  the  full  import  of  any 
given  system  of  theological  speculation.  We  have 
come  to  look  upon  all  systems  as  being  alike 
interesting  but  useless ;  we  think  there  is  a  great 
gulf  fixed  between  belief  and  conduct,  that  in 
fact  these  have  little  to  do  with  each  other. 
Nothing  could  be  more  fatal  to  the  theologians. 

Before  we  can  begin  to  understand  any  system 
of  theology,  we  must  enter  into  the  situation  of 
the  unhappy  men  who  propounded  and  propagated 
it :  we  must  appreciate  their  distress  of  mind  at 
the  eternity  of  punishment  which  was  impending 
over  their  fellows,  if  not  over  themselves ;  and 
we  shall  usually  find  an  opposing  theory  in  the 
nature  of  a  revolt  against  this  melancholy  deduc- 
tion. All  schemes  in  fact  were  an  attempt  to  ex- 
plain or  alleviate  the  unhappy  situation  in  which 
men  found  themselves  in  this  world,  and  if  the 


JONATHAN  EDWARDS  5 

f  ramers  did  not  get  beyond  a  guess  at  the  explana- 
tion, upon  the  whole,  they  certainly  did  some- 
thing towards  instilling  into  the  minds  of  men 
a  hope  of  better  things. 

The  earliest  philosophic  observation  of  which 
we  have  any  record  is  that  which  took  note  of  the 
lack  of  sequence  between  conduct  and  its  reward. 
The  wicked  have  always  appeared  to  flourish  and 
the  good  have  been  discouraged.  This  was  the 
problem  which  Job  had  to  face,  and  doubtless 
patriarchs  even  older  than  he  must  have  discussed 
the  anomaly  in  their  pastoral  leisure.  This  af- 
flicted patriarch  could  only  take  refuge  in  a  blind 
faith  that  the  judge  of  all  the  world  would  do 
risfht,  a  conclusion  which  did  more  credit  to  his 
piety  than  to  his  understanding.  If  we  could 
assign  a  date  to  this  observation,  we  should  have 
a  valuable  mark  in  the  intellectual  and  moral 
progress  of  the  race ;  if  we  say  the  Book  of  Job 
was  written  in  the  time  it  purports  to  describe, 
we  admit  the  greatest  miracle  of  literary  history, 
that  so  profound  a  work  should  be  produced  in 
times  so  primitive ;  if  we  assign  to  it  a  compar- 
atively recent  date,  we  are  face  to  face  with 
another  miracle,  that  the  poem  should  be  projected 
into  the  past  with  such  artistic  completeness.  It 
is   as   if   we   were   to   discuss  whether  "Julius 


6  ESSAYS  IN  PURITANISM 

Caesar  "  was  written  in  the  time  of  Elizabeth  or 
in  the  first  century.  The  very  fact  that  there 
should  be  such  a  question  testifies  to  the  mar- 
vellous nature  of  the  work ;  but  we  are  not  here 
specially  concerned  with  that,  save  in  so  far  as  it 
affords  evidence  of  the  profound  attention  that 
has  always  been  fastened  upon  this  problem  of 
good  and  evil. 

The  only  escape  these  old  philosophers  found 
from  the  dilemma  was  to  predicate  that  this  life 
is  not  all,  that  there  is  in  the  future  some  system 
of  reward  and  punishment ;  that,  in  short,  the 
injustice  which  men  behold  here  is  not  eternal. 
The  Jews  never  got  beyond  a  vague  outline  in  the 
elaboration  of  such  a  system.  The  most  poignant 
of  their  poets,  the  writer  of  Ecclesiastes,  perceived 
that  one  event  happened  to  all ;  as  it  happens  to 
the  fool,  so  it  shall  happen  to  the  wise ;  that  the 
wise  man  dies  even  as  the  foolish ;  that  his  days 
are  sorrow ;  that  a  man  has  no  preeminence  over 
the  beast;  as  the  one  dieth  so  dieth  the  other, 
and  all  go  into  one  place ;  all  are  of  the  dust  and 
shall  return  to  the  dust  again.  This  the  wise  man 
cannot  endure,  and  he  takes  final  refuge  in  the 
spirit  returning  whence  it  came,  after  man  had 
performed  his  whole  duty ;  which  is  about  as  far 
as  we  ourselves  have  got. 


JONATHAN  EDWARDS  7 

The  failure  or  success  of  the  individual,  his 
happiness  or  misery,  were  all  observed  to  depend 
upon  circumstances  so  fortuitous  and  so  entirely 
beyond  his  control,  that  no  principle  of  justice 
could  be  discovered  in  the  events  which  happened 
to  him.  But  human  life  must  be  looked  upon  in 
the  mass  and  extent  of  its  endurance,  not  as  the 
junction  of  the  past  and  the  present  in  the  indi- 
vidual. As  Carlyle  observed,  "  You  must  give  the 
thing  time."  The  great  Hebrew  preacher  had 
previously  recorded  a  similar  observation  in  the 
words  :  "  Because  sentence  against  an  evil  work  is 
not  executed  speedily,  therefore  the  heart  of  the 
sons  of  men  is  fully  set  in  them  to  do  evil ;  though 
a  sinner  do  evil  an  hundred  times  and  his  days  be 
prolonged,  yet  surely  I  know  that  in  the  end  it 
shall  not  be  well  with  him." 

It  would  be  a  large  matter  even  to  take  note 
of  all  the  attempts  which  have  been  made  to  read 
the  riddle,  and  it  will  be  enough  here  to  follow 
that  straightforward  course  of  reasoning  which 
led  to  the  definite,  if  not  very  comforting,  conclu- 
sion embraced  in  the  doctrine  of  Calvinism.  The 
Calvinist  falls  back  upon  the  will  of  God  for  a 
solution.  If  God  allows  the  wicked  to  triumph  for 
a  time,  that  is  proof  that  in  the  end  they  will  be 
condemned.    Certainly,  no  one  can  deny  the  fact 


8  ESSAYS  IN  PURITANISM 

of  their  present  prosperity.  And  this  will  of  God 
was  only  made  known  to  the  Calvinist  by  re- 
velation ;  but,  as  we  enter  more  deeply  into  the 
matter,  we  are  filled  with  the  desire  that,  if  any 
revelation  at  all  had  been  made  upon  the  subject, 
it  might  have  been  one  which  should  leave  the 
matter  clearer  than  it  was  before.  The  trouble 
about  all  revelations  is  that  they  reveal  so  very 
little  that  people  of  plain  common  sense  can 
understand  ;  and  certainly  such  persons  should 
have  been  considered  in  view  of  the  likely  event 
of  their  asking  questions. 

One  who  is  fond  of  taking  note  of  the  mental 
structure  of  his  race  continually  finds  embedded 
in  it  isolated  fragments  from  the  past,  which  are 
entirely  incapable  of  being  moulded  or  modified 
by  the  more  recent  flow  and  growth.  In  the  re- 
ligious part  of  the  nature  these  fragments  are 
peculiarly  large  and  plentiful,  and  singularly  in- 
tractable to  any  influence  that  might  make  for 
development.  Many  of  the  earliest  instincts  of 
the  race,  which  in  the  outset  were  in  no  sense 
of  a  religious  character,  still  persist  in  the  domain 
of  religion  and  are  of  considerable  force. 

The  earliest  organization  of  society  proceeded 
upon  the  patriarchal  theory  that  the  eldest  male 
ascendant  was  supreme  in  his   own  household. 


JONATHAN  EDWARDS  9 

His  dominion  extended  over  life  and  death ;  and 
in  the  case  of  his  children  and  all  that  was  theirs 
it  was  unbounded.   Indeed,  the  quality  of  son- 
ship  differed  very  slightly  from  the  condition  of 
slavery.    Of  course,   this  theory  was  abandoned 
sooner  or  later :  by  some  races  sooner  than  by 
others  ;  and  its  place  was  taken  by  other  consider- 
ations, such  as  locality,  or  the  advantage  of  union 
for  the  sake  of  success  in  attack  or  in  defence. 
The  patriarchal  theory  persisted  longest  in  the 
Semitic  race,  or  at  any  rate  in  that  portion  of  the 
race  occupying  Lower  Asia,  from  which  we  have 
derived  most  of  our  ideas  of  an  organized  reli- 
gion.   In  common  with  all  ancient  societies  they 
regarded  themselves   as   being   descended  from 
an  original  stock,  and  that  was  the  only  bond  of 
union  which  they  could  comprehend.  Their  politi- 
cal idea  had  not  yet  extended  even  to  the  breadth 
of  being  provincial.    These   Hebrews   observed 
that  other  races  had  outgrown  or  cast  off  this 
patriarchal  mould,  and  they  explained  this  wil- 
ful abandonment  of  the  birthright  by  the  Esau 
legend,  on  the  grounds  of  inherent  viciousness  of 
nature,  a  practice  which  is  still  common  enough 
amongst  religious  people. 

The    Calvinist   based   his   religion   upon  this 
patriarchal  theory.    He  adopted  the  Patriarch  of 


10  ESSAYS  IN  PURITANISM 

the  Hebrews  as  his  God.  His  conception  of  reli- 
gion was  to  placate  a  power  higher  than  himself ; 
and  he  never  got  beyond  the  fear  of  that  power, 
however  much  he  might  try  to  persuade  himself 
that  his  conduct  was  determined  by  a  dislike  of 
hurting  the  susceptibilities  of  that  Omnipotent 
Patriarch.  The  whole  system  of  Calvin,  then, 
takes  its  roots  in  the  disobedience  of  Adam.  The 
Calvinist  God  may  have  been  all-powerful ;  but 
power  is  not  now  held  to  constitute  a  valid  claim 
to  obedience.  The  whole  progress  of  the  human 
race  bears  witness  that  at  times  the  main  duty 
of  man  is  disobedience.  Adam's  act  at  worst  was 
a  revolt  against  authority.  Whatever  grounds 
there  may  be  for  visiting  the  punishment  for 
moral  faults  upon  the  children  to  the  third  and 
fourth  generation,  there  are  none  for  so  dealing 
with  political  faults.  Not  Sulla,  nor  James  the 
Second,  nor  Judge  Jeffreys  would  claim  as  much. 
But  it  is  worth  while  enquiring  a  little  more 
closely  into  this  fault  of  Adam,  taking  the  ac- 
count as  it  appears  in  the  only  record  open  to 
our  inspection,  namely,  in  those  Semitic  writings 
which  have  obtained  so  wide  a  circulation  in 
the  Western  world.  In  the  second  chapter  of  the 
Book  of  Genesis  we  are  told  —  in  addition  to 
many  other  things  into  which  it  is  not  necessary 


JONATHAN   EDWARDS  11 

here  to  enter  —  that  two  trees  were  planted  in 
a  garden,  one  the  tree  of  life,  the  other  the  tree 
of  knowledge  of  good  and  evil.  Adam  was  forbid- 
den to  eat  the  fruit  of  the  tree  of  knowledjre  of 
good  and  evil,  and  the  injunction  was  accompanied 
by  the  threat  that  if  he  did  so  eat,  he  would  die 
that  very  day.  After  the  advent  of  the  woman, 
the  serpent  came  upon  the  scene  and  categorically 
denied  the  validity  of  the  threat,  and  volunteered 
the  further  information,  that  if  they  did  eat 
of  the  fruit  they  should  attain  to  a  knowledge  of 
good  and  evil.  These  simple  persons  followed 
this  suggestion,  and  we  have  it  upon  the  author- 
ity of  the  chief  character  in  the  scene  —  not  to 
designate  him  by  a  holy  name  —  that  the  opinion 
of  the  serpent  was  verified  in  every  particular. 
The  man  became  "as  one  of  us  to  know  good 
and  evil,"  and  that  day  he  did  not  die ;  on  the 
contrary,  he  was  turned  out  of  the  garden,  lest 
he  might  eat  of  the  tree  of  life  also,  and  so  live 
forever.  Of  course  it  is  not  pretended  here  that 
this  is  a  true  account  of  what  really  occurred,  nor 
is  it  alleged  that  anything  did  occur,  but  this  is 
the  best  information  which  we  possess. 

The  only  actor  who  came  out  of  this  transac- 
tion with  unimpaired  credit  was  the  serpent,  and, 
like  many  another  speaker  of  the  truth  in  oppo- 


12  ESSAYS  IN  PURITANISM 

sition  to  authority,  he  got  very  little  thanks  from 
either  side  for  his  interference.  Certainly,  Adam, 
and  we  too,  if  we  had  any  liability  in  so  doubtful 
a  transaction,  might  complain  that  we  had  not 
been  treated  with  frankness,  that  there  was  an 
arriere  pensee^  a  mental  reservation  in  the  opera- 
tion, inconsistent  with  a  character  which  is  en- 
titled to  absolute  obedience.  That  the  Hebrews 
of  lower  Asia  accepted  this  solution  of  the  pro- 
blem of  the  origin  of  good  and  evil  has  nothing 
to  do  with  us ;  that  persons  of  much  higher  intel- 
ligence in  some  things  should  accept  it  as  the 
basis  of  a  system  involving  the  very  serious 
matter  of  eternal  punishment  is  a  phenomenon 
of  philosophic  interest. 

All  systems  of  theology  then  were  explanatory, 
and  nearly  all  were  humanitarian.  But  a  place 
of  reward  was  held  to  imply  a  place  of  punish- 
ment, which  is  a  "  new  thing,"  in  spite  of  the 
statement  of  the  great  writer  before  mentioned  to 
the  contrary.  A  full  consideration  of  this  fasci- 
nating subject  would  lead  us  far  into  eschatology, 
which  is  a  hard  word  in  itself,  but  one  who  med- 
dles with  theology  at  all  feels  bound  to  employ 
hard-sounding  terms.  This  "doctrine  of  last 
things,"  as  revealed  in  the  Jewish  Apocalypses, 
of  which  there  were  many,  some  of  authority  and 


JONATHAN  EDWARDS  13 

some  of  very  feeble  force,  was  always  a  product 
of  national  or  personal  distress :  the  writings  of 
Daniel,  Ezekiel,  and  Zechariah  will  serve  as  par- 
tial examples.  In  these  weird  revelations  two 
different  views  prevailed.  According  to  one  set 
of  seers  only  favoured  persons  were  to  rise  from 
the  dead ;  according  to  another  all  would  come 
into  their  reward  or  punishment.  In  the  Revela- 
tion, to  which  the  same  name  is  attached  as  that 
borne  by  the  fourth  Gospel,  both  suppositions 
are  tastefully  combined.  As  a  matter  of  fact  the 
Hebrew  Scriptures  contain  no  clear  note  of  an 
immortality  either  of  reward  or  of  punishment. 
That  was  left  for  a  Jew  of  Alexandria,  but  his 
Book  of  Wisdom  never  attained  to  any  wide 
celebrity.  Saint  Paul  himself  seized  upon  these 
opposing  views  and  certainly  did  not  leave  the 
matter  any  clearer  than  he  found  it.  The  situa- 
tion in  which  the  early  Christians  found  them- 
selves was  so  distressing  that  they  were  continu- 
ally turning  their  eyes  for  relief  to  the  last  things, 
and  at  one  time  it  became  so  acute  that  many 
persons  were  troubled,  lest  when  they  awoke  from 
their  sleep  of  death,  important  events  should 
already  have  taken  place  which  might  affect  their 
future  state. 

Before  pronouncing  upon  Calvinism  we  must 


14  ESSAYS  IN  PURITANISM 

follow  the  lines  upon  which  it  is  constructed. 
We  cannot  read  the  "  Divina  Commedia  "  with 
any  intelligence  unless  we  understand  the  geo- 
graphical and  other  relations  of  its  various  local- 
ities, the  Inferno,  the  Purgatorio,  and  the  Para- 
diso.  We  cannot  enter  fully  into  the  mystery  of 
"Paradise  Lost,"  or  rather  "hell  discovered," 
unless  we  bring  Milton's  measuring  apparatus 
with  us.  It  was  Milton  and  not  Calvin  who  made 
a  reality  out  of  this  evil  shadow  of  good,  and  he 
did  it  with  such  elaboration  of  plan  and  precision 
in  detail,  that  it  appealed  instantly  to  the  imagi- 
nation and  does  so  yet  appeal.  Calvin  knew  a 
great  deal  about  men  and  this  world ;  about  any 
other  world  he  had  no  better  information  than 
we  ourselves.  That  was  left  for  Milton,  and  we 
have  his  conception  in  plan  and  section ;  the 
empyrean  occupying  the  upper  area,  with  the 
throne  at  the  zenith  surrounded  by  flaming  mists, 
a  crystal  floor  dividing  it  from  the  lower  hemi- 
sphere or  chaos,  and  in  a  kind  of  antarctic  region, 
hell  proper.  Nor  are  we  left  without  a  scale  of 
measurement.  The  distance  from  the  nadir  of 
the  starry  universe  to  the  upper  boss  of  hell  gate 
is  shown  to  be  equal  to  its  own  radius,  which 
makes  the  distance  from  the  hell  gate  to  the 
heaven  gate  equal  to  the  semi-diameter  of  the 


JONATHAN   EDWARDS  15 

universe.  These  measurements  may  be  correct, 
at  any  rate  it  is  difficult  to  disprove  them,  for 
recent  progress  in  mensuration  has  been  along 
other  and  less  speculative  lines.  If  we  were  in- 
clined to  push  our  studies  further  into  this  fas- 
cinating science,  we  might  express  the  relation 
of  distances  in  more  abstract  terms  ;  we  could 
scarcely  make  them  more  precise. 

The  Calvinistic  designers  reverted  to  the 
method  of  the  writers  of  the  Apocalypses,  who 
prophesied  a  great  deal  upon  very  inexact  in- 
formation, though  they  appear  to  have  possessed 
in  that  relation  a  marked  advantage  over  the 
sweet  and  gentle  Master,  who  occupied  himself 
very  little  with  such  abstruse  calculations.  In 
short,  while  they  disclose  little  real  knowledge  of 
the  place  itself,  we  have  full  information  upon 
the  ease,  one  would  almost  say,  the  certainty,  of 
arriving  at  it.  Yet  for  the  comfort  of  those  who 
may  be  disturbed,  the  truth  is  here  revealed.  In- 
stead of  being  a  matter  of  divine  revelation,  this 
theory  of  an  unending  punishment  for  the  viola- 
tion of  the  majesty  of  an  Infinite  Being  has  no 
better  basis  than  an  obscure  passage  in  Aristotle's 
Ethics :  Aquinas,  Sum.  Theol.^  quaest.  xcix,  art. 
1 ;  Calvin,  Instit.^  Ill,  25  ;  Enc,  Brit.,  vol.  viii, 
p.  535. 


16  ESSAYS  IN  PURITANISM 

All  the  authorities  upon  eschatology  proceed 
according  to  the  strictest  principles  of  the  math- 
ematicians; they  do  not  know  what  they  are 
talking  about,  and  they  do  not  know  if  what  they 
are  saying  is  true.  They  begin  with  an  assump- 
tion ;  they  end  with  an  abstraction.  So  long  as 
the  theologians  keep  the  discussion  on  this  high 
plane  no  harm  is  done.  When  they  attempt  to 
reduce  it  to  the  level  of  common  sense,  we  can 
only  define  our  position  and  endeavour  to  secure 
our  own  safety  by  taking  refuge  in  this :  We  do 
not  know  how  the  thing  is,  and  if  you  tell  us  we 
shall  not  believe  you.  We  have  hardened  our 
hearts.  We  are  in  the  unhappy  situation  of  the 
Wampanoag  truth-seeker  who  was  trying  to  com- 
prehend the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity,  that  three  is 
not  three  but  one.  He  lamented  bitterly  that  he 
had  no  skill  in  the  deeper  parts  of  the  arithmetic. 

The  controversy  between  theologians  and  men 
of  ordinary  common  sense  amounts  to  this :  we 
talk  about  two  different  things  in  the  same 
terms.  There  is  nothing  more  harmless  than 
such  speculation,  so  long  as  those  who  do  not 
care  for  the  exercise  are  not  reasoned  into  the 
one  place  or  the  other,  a  contingency  not  so  re- 
mote as  one  would  think,  if  one  meddles  with 
Calvinism   at   all;    for  of  all  systems  of   theo- 


JONATHAN   EDWARDS  17 

logical  speculation,  Calvinism  has  the  greatest  pre- 
tension to  reasonableness.  It  does  possess  more 
than  a  pretension  to  reasonableness,  for  it  ad- 
heres to  the  strictest  method  of  logic;  all  other 
systems  are  reduced  to  an  absurdity  by  the  final 
admission  that  some  higher  power  may  intervene 
to  vitiate  their  conclusions ;  Calvinism  does  not 
blink  at  its  own  conclusion,  which  is  that  once 
a  man  is  reasoned  into  hell,  there  is  an  end  of  the 
matter. 

To  state  the  proposition  baldly,  the  final  situa- 
tion of  man  depends  in  no  way  upon  his  own 
actions,  good  or  bad,  or  upon  himself  in  any  way, 
but  upon  the  arbitrary  exercise  of  a  power  quite 
outside  his  influence.  Nothing  could  be  more 
shocking  than  such  a  doctrine  stated  in  simple 
language,  though  a  thing  may  be  shocking  and 
yet  be  true.  Indeed  there  is  something  to  be  said 
for  this  view  of  the  case,  when  we  consider  how 
little  the  situation  of  ordinary  men,  even  in  this 
world,  is  influenced  by  what  they  do  or  what  they 
abstain  from  doing.  Their  situation  depends 
upon  their  nature,  their  place  and  station  of 
birth,  and  upon  other  circumstances  beyond  their 
control.  Most  men  at  the  end  of  their  lives  will 
agree,  that,  good  or  ill,  they  could  not  have  done 
much  otherwise. 


18  ESSAYS  IN   PURITANISM 

When  we  state  the  case  less  baldly,  as  we  must, 
the  reasonableness  of  Calvinism  will  be  more 
apparent.  The  first  man,  Adam,  was  created  in 
the  image  and  likeness  of  God,  in  a  condition  of 
purity.  From  this  he  fell,  and  involved  his 
decendants  in  his  fall.  Every  man  and  woman 
is  born  with  a  due  share  of  this  inherent  guilt, 
and,  therefore,  liable  to  all  the  pains  of  hell  for- 
ever. Every  child  has  in  itself  the  seed  of  ini- 
quity, which  in  due  season  will  bear  its  fruit. 
This  fruit  of  the  flesh  is  amply  described  by  many 
writers  and  faithfully  catalogued  by  Paul  in  his 
arraignment  of  the  Galatians.  To  enable  God  to 
promulgate  a  plan  of  salvation  out  of  his  mere 
good  pleasure,  his  son  was  permitted  to  take 
upon  himself  the  punishment  due  to  mankind. 
There  was  the  way  of  escape  ;  but  man  must  avail 
himself  of  it.  We  must  first  have  faith  ;  by  which 
is  meant,  not  the  acceptance  as  true  of  things 
which  our  judgement  tells  us  are  false,  but  a  will- 
ingness to  accept  the  remedy.  From  this  follow, 
in  due  sequence,  justification  by  this  imputed 
righteousness,  adoption  into  the  chosen  number, 
sanctification  or  renewal  into  the  original  image. 

It  must  be  noted,  however,  that  this  initial  faith 
is  not  of  ourselves,  it  too  is  a  gift  conferred  only 
upon  certain  persons.    God,  knowing  all  things 


JONATHAN  EDWARDS  19 

in  advance,  knows  upon  whom  this  gift  shall  be 
conferred  ;  therefore,  a  class  of  elected  persons  is 
at  once  established.  This  reasoning  is  faultless ; 
the  only  escape  from  its  relentless  result  is  to 
question  the  data,  and  that  we  may  safely  do,  for 
Calvin  is  now  dead  a  long  time.  We  may  affirm 
that  there  never  was  any  such  system  of  Scotch 
or  Jewish  bargaining  ;  we  may  go  so  far  as  to 
admit  that  even  if  men  were  created  in  God's 
image,  certainly  God  never  was  created  in  the  im- 
age of  Calvin,  and  we  need  not  now  be  deterred  by 
the  fate  of  Servetus,  who  used  words  to  that  effect. 
The  thing  that  strikes  us  as  incomprehensible 
is  the  relative  inefficiency  of  the  doctrine  of  Cal- 
vinism. If  we  admit  that  God  took  any  trouble 
at  all  about  the  matter,  we  cannot  help  wonder- 
ing why  he  should  have  chosen  so  inefficient  a 
method  for  carrying  out  the  beneficent  purpose, 
when  another  and  apparently  less  complicated 
procedure  might  have  been  adopted.  At  this  late 
day  it  is  no  time  to  be  suggesting  any  better 
plan,  since,  no  matter  how  good  it  might  be, 
its  benefits  could  not  be  made  retroactive  any 
more  than  the  benefits  of  Calvinism.  When  the 
system  of  Christanity  was  being  elaborated  by 
Saint  Paul,  this  objection  was  thought  of,  and  the 
benefits  of  the  system  were  conferred  by  a  simple 


20  ESSAYS  IN  PURITANISM 

process  upon  those  who  had  died  before  its 
discovery.  The  living  were  baptized  for  the  dead. 
In  Calvinism  there  was  no  such  loop-hole.  The 
tree  had  to  lie  as  it  fell,  and  the  Scotch  Reform- 
ers proclaimed  in  no  uncertain  language,  that  he 
who  believed  any  otherwise  should  be  damned, 
which  is  tolerably  plain  speaking. 

It  is  hard  for  us  to  realize  how  these  abstrac- 
tions should  have  come  to  influence  men's  char- 
acter and  conduct.  In  reality,  they  did  not  much 
influence  them.  What  a  man  believes  is  not  the 
result  of  reasoning  and  conviction ;  his  belief 
arises  from  his  nature  or  type  of  character,  and 
has  nothing  to  do  with  the  laws  of  evidence,  save 
in  the  minds  of  rigid  scientific  enquirers.  Even 
in  such  cases  they  rarely  get  beyond  an  intellec- 
tual assent,  and  that  is  a  long  way  short  of  con- 
viction, which  is  bound  up  with  the  emotions,  and 
alone  has  any  motive  power  impelling  a  man  to 
act.  Belief  has  so  little  to  do  with  the  intellect 
that  it  is  in  the  least  intellectual  persons  we  find 
it  most  firmly  fixed,  and  in  very  extreme  cases 
we  call  it  hallucination  or  delusion ;  persons  so 
gifted  with  the  capacity  for  belief  we  class  as 
insane.  In  a  lesser  degree  it  is  the  most  ignorant 
persons  who  have  the  firmest  belief  upon  ques- 
tions about  which  they  cannot  possibly  possess 


JONATHAN  EDWARDS  21 

any  information,  —  upon  the  action  of  drugs,  the 
future  state,  the  habits  of  animals  which  they 
have  never  seen,  the  influence  of  the  moon  upon 
the  weather,  the  rightness  or  wrongness  of  eccle- 
siastical and  political  doctrines. 

A  man  can  doubtless  arrive  at  true  views  in 
cases  where  truth  is  accessible,  but,  in  such  high 
matters  as  those  pertaining  to  religion,  his  in- 
stincts and  training  lead  him  to  certain  inevitable 
conclusions  with  which  truth  has  nothing  to  do. 
His  reason  will  not  be  bound  by  anything  so  poor 
as  the  laws  of  evidence.  By  experience  one  may 
come  to  know  that  his  strongest  religious  convic- 
tions are  false,  that  the  belief  which  he  cherished 
most  dearly  has  only  a  low  degree  of  probability 
at  best ;  but  fortunately  this  same  experience 
teaches  him  also  that  it  is  hardly  worth  while 
discarding  these  conceptions  for  others,  whose 
probability  may  be  in  a  slight  degree  higher,  and 
so  he  is  content  to  leave  the  matter  at  that. 

In  reality,  a  man's  conduct  is  always  higher 
than  his  belief,  and  it  is  of  rare  occurrence  that 
acceptance  of  a  creed  extends  into  the  region 
of  action.  Even  in  Scotland,  the  straitest  sect  of 
the  Calvinists  behaved  towards  their  neighbours 
much  as  if  they  really  were  not  convinced  that 
"  the  bulk  of  mankind  "  was  reserved  for  an  eter- 


22  ESSAYS  IN  PURITANISM 

nity  of  suffering.  They  pretended  to  believe  it, 
but  in  reality  they  did  not.  As  Voltaire  said  of 
the  Basques  :  "  When  they  converse  they  pretend 
to  understand  each  other,  mais,  je  vHen  crois  rien^ 

Epicureanism  at  no  time  flourished  in  Rome ; 
Stoicism  had  an  abundant  entrance  and  was 
glorified,  as  one  might  say.  These  stiff,  austere 
people  were  attracted  by  the  stiff  and  austere 
character  of  the  creed,  and  their  character  was 
made  thereby  still  more  stiff  and  austere  by  being 
confirmed  in  its  natural  bent.  It  was  a  strong 
belief  suitable  for  strong  men.  The  people  of 
Scotland  somehow  acquired  the  belief  that  by 
taking  much  thought  they  could  find  out  what 
God  and  man  is ;  that  by  a  purely  intellectual 
process  they  could  think  out  a  religion  of  their 
own,  and  that  this  occupation  was  their  main  ob- 
ject in  life.  It  does  not,  however,  advance  the 
position  much  to  say  that  the  adoption  of  Epicu- 
reanism by  the  Athenians,  Stoicism  at  Rome,  or 
Calvinism  in  Scotland,  was  a  result  of  the  pecu- 
liarity of  the  national  character,  for  this  national 
character  is  ever  the  last  refuge  of  the  bewildered 
enquirer ;  yet  the  fact  is  there. 

Calvinism  has  been  so  closely  identified  with 
Scotland  that  it  is  commonly  looked  upon  as  be- 
ing the  mainspring  of  national  action.     In  reality 


JONATHAN  EDWARDS  23 

that  form  of  religion  was  adopted  merely  because 
it  appealed  to  the  genius  of  the  people,  as  Epi- 
cureanism appealed  to  the  genius  of  the  Greeks, 
or  Stoicism  to  that  of  the  Romans.  It  was  pre- 
cisely what  the  people  of  Scotland  required:  it 
was  in  abstract  form ;  it  could  be  pursued  to  the 
bitter  end ;  it  provided  an  explanation  of  the  con- 
duct of  more  favoured  people;  and  it  afforded 
some  comfort  in  contemplating  their  prosperity. 
Finally  it  began  to  colour  the  character  of  the 
nation,  and  to  dominate  the  intellectual  life  of  the 
individual,  so  much  so,  that  in  the  exquisite  poem 
of  their  own  Caroline  Lady  Nairne,  so  full  of 
confidence  in  all  one  would  love  to  believe  of  a 
future  life,  they  can  only  find  matter  for  wonder 
at  the  grounds  for  the  "  assurance  "  of  the  dying 
woman. 

It  is  now  time  to  enquire  what  manner  of  man 
this  Calvin  was.  We  have  the  word  of  Renan  for 
it  that  "  Calvin  was  the  most  Christian  man  of  his 
time,"  which  of  course  is  not  saying  much ;  and 
one  would  like  a  better  authority  than  Renan 
upon  so  subtle  a  matter.  If  Calvin's  only  claim 
to  remembrance  was  his  acuteness  in  propound- 
ing and  his  skill  in  solving  theorems  in  divinity, 
he  would  long  ago  have  been  submerged  in  the 
flood  of  common  sense  that  has  been  so  steadily 


24  ESSAYS  IN  PURITANISM 

rising.  His  claims  are  founded  on  other  grounds 
entirely.  Since  the  time  of  the  founder  of  Chris- 
tianity no  one  has  exercised  so  profound  an  influ- 
ence upon  the  minds  of  men  as  Calvin,  and  no 
single  book  was  ever  followed  by  such  tremendous 
consequences  as  his  "  Institutio  Christianae  Kelig- 
ionis."  It  contained  only  six  chapters ;  it  was  pub- 
lished without  a  name  ;  the  author  was  not  more 
than  twenty-six  years  of  age  when  it  appeared. 

Calvin's  great  work  was  that  he  first  revealed 
to  the  world  the  worth  and  dignity  of  the  indi- 
vidual, which  is  after  all  the  essence  of  Puritan- 
ism and  the  heart  of  Emerson's  doctrine.  He 
proclaimed  that  man  is  called  of  God,  that  he  is 
the  heir  of  heaven,  and  that  these  are  the  only 
claims  to  consideration  any  one  may  advance.  In 
view  of  this  glory,  common  alike  to  king  and 
noble,  to  the  weaver  at  the  loom,  the  trader  in  his 
shop,  the  toiler  in  the  field,  all  worldly  and  tem- 
poral distinctions  faded  into  nothingness.  When 
a  man  gets  into  his  head  that  he  is  the  son  of 
God,  that  he  is  co-heir  with  Christ,  his  elder  bro- 
ther, he  is  in  a  bad  frame  of  mind  to  admit  that 
the  right  of  king  or  of  priest  is  more  divine  than 
his  own.  It  was  by  running  counter  to  this  be- 
lief that  Charles  the  First  learned  at  Cromwell's 
hand  "  that  he  had  a  bone  in  his  neck." 


JONATHAN  EDWARDS  25 

Calvin  proclaimed  that  all  power,  spiritual, 
ecclesiastical,  and  temporal,  proceeded  from  the 
individual,  in  whose  heart  and  conscience  it  had 
been  deposited  by  God  himself.  That  doctrine 
forced  its  way  through  three  revolutions  in  Eng- 
land, and  stands  untouched  till  this  day  in  every 
nation  which  answers  to  the  name  of  modern. 
Spain  had  a  lesson  in  it  not  so  very  long  ago ; 
Russia  is  now  at  school ;  and  one  or  two  other 
peoples  are  ripe  for  instruction.  Calvin  defined 
the  issue  :  Was  it  to  be  the  monarch  or  the  indi- 
vidual? The  Covenanters  decided  against  the 
kings  and  drew  the  sword  :  "  No,  it  shall  not  be, 
and  forthwith  they  put  on  their  steel  bonnets." 
The  sword  was  out  for  a  century  and  a  half  be- 
fore this  question,  so  simple  to  us,  was  answered 
in  the  Toleration  Act  of  William  the  Third,  and 
in  the  Peace  of  Westphalia.  Also,  there  were 
a  few  words  said  upon  the  subject  under  a  tree 
in  Massachusetts  in  the  year  seventeen  hundred 
and  sixty-five  and  in  succeeding  years. 

This  doctrine  of  the  sovereignty  of  the  individ- 
ual, subject  only  to  the  sovereignty  of  God,  was 
the  last  lesson  of  the  Renaissance.  It  was  learned 
by  those  who  had  ears  to  hear,  wherever  they 
might  be.  Classes  were  formed  here  and  there. 
There  was  a  running  together  of  learners  from 


26  ESSAYS  IN   PURITANISM 

all  over  Europe,  to  Geneva,  to  Zurich,  to  Edin- 
burgh, and  to  Frankfort.  The  teachers  were  now 
in  one  school,  now  in  another,  and  at  this  time  the 
master  mind  in  Frankfort  was  John  Knox,  him- 
self a  pupil  of  Calvin.  It  is  worthy  of  note  that 
the  main  object  of  the  Frankfort  exiles  was,  in  the 
sneering  words  of  an  opponent,  "  to  erect  a  church 
of  the  Purity."  An  offshooot  of  this  church, 
which  Calvin  planted  and  Knox  watered,  was 
afterwards  transferred  to  the  austere  New  Eng- 
land soil,  where  it  grew  in  stature  and  in  favour, 
let  us  hope  with  God,  if  not  with  men. 

It  was  only  in  Scotland  that  people  obtained 
a  complete  "  apprehension,"  as  they  would  say 
themselves,  of  the  profound  subtlety  of  Calvin's 
theorem  in  divinity.  They  made  it  their  own. 
They  concerned  themselves  with  the  salvation  of 
their  own  souls  and  the  inferential  neglect  of  the 
souls  of  less  favoured  persons,  and  these  matters 
seemed  of  so  much  importance  to  them  that  they 
overlooked  the  far  reaching  political  results  of 
Calvinism. 

The  English  Puritans  on  the  other  hand  seized 
upon  the  very  heart  of  Calvin's  doctrine  —  the 
freedom  of  the  individual.  They  cared  nothing 
for  the  freedom  of  the  wiU,  so  long  as  the  man 
was  free ;    it  was  a  matter  too  high  for  them. 


JONATHAN  EDWARDS  27 

That  has  been  the  habit  of  Englishmen,  ever  since 
they  landed  in  Britain,  at  least :  a  perception  of 
facts,  an  inaccessibility  to  ideas.  We  have  the 
authority  of  one  of  themselves  for  that.  Life  to 
them  has  always  meant  order  and  justice  ;  fight- 
ing and  force  the  readiest  means  to  these  ends  ; 
death  and  the  future  mysterious  things  inspiring 
awe,  but  incapable  of  being  understood. 

To  this  practical  and  experimental  temper,  the 
tenets  of  Calvin,  the  freedom,  dignity,  and  sover- 
eignty of  the  individual,  appealed  with  peculiar 
force.  The  doctrine  of  the  Jesuits,  at  that  time 
being  diligently  propagated,  curiously  enough, 
fitted  well  with  this  mood.  The  national  temper 
was  rising.  The  war  with  Spain  was  over.  The 
House  of  Austria  had  been  vanquished.  The  pre- 
tensions of  the  Papacy  were  abated.  In  the 
contest  with  the  allied  temporal  and  spiritual 
powers,  the  temporal  and  spiritual  alliance  had 
got  the  worst  of  it.  The  Tudors,  who  arose  upon 
the  ruins  of  the  old  feudal  and  religious  fabric, 
finished  their  great  work  with  Elizabeth.  The 
Stuarts  were  an  experiment.  The  soul  of  the 
Englishman  was  not  a  dogma  ;  it  was  a  fact.  Re- 
ligion was  now  a  matter  for  the  individual.  His 
soul  was  his  own.  There  was  the  battle-ground 
between  good  and  evil,  between  Heaven  and  Hell. 


28  ESSAYS  IN  PURITANISM 

This  was  the  doctrine  of  Calvin,  and  in  the 
English  mind  it  developed  into  Puritanism  as 
we  know  it ;  in  the  Scotch  mind  it  just  developed 
into  Calvinism. 

It  would  require  a  large  book  to  describe  all 
the  influences,  up  to  their  source,  which  finally 
descended  to  form  the  broad  spirit  of  Puritanism. 
That  could  be  attempted,  too,  but  it  would  de- 
mand a  display  of  wisdom  which  might  not  be  tol- 
erable. The  thing  was  a  growth,  and  who  shall 
say  exactly  how  even  the  flower  in  the  crannied 
wall  does  grow.  Without  being  wiser  than  the 
subject  demands,  it  may  be  affirmed  that  the 
Puritan  spirit  was  first  considerably  developed 
under  the  Tudors,  and  ended  by  upsetting  that 
broad-founded  house  as  it  has  upset  everything 
since  under  which  it  has  thrust  its  growing  roots. 
Then  the  Stuarts  tried  an  experiment  with  it,  but 
they  were  a  mere  incident ;  they  came  too  late. 
Calvin  and  the  Bible  had  been  there  before  them, 
and  Cromwell  in  good  season  put  an  end  to  the 
Stuarts'  foolish  business.  The  events  which  led 
up  to  the  apparent  failure  of  that  cause,  which 
had  seemed  assured  at  the  death  of  Elizabeth,  and 
again  at  the  violent  death  of  Charles,  are  the 
commonplace  of  history.  At  any  rate  the  minds 
of  men  faltered  at  the  failure,  yet  they  looked 


I    UNM'vT. 

^^4jF£R}^  JONATHAN  EDWARDS  29 

over  the  seas  where  they  might  make  the  experi- 
ment anew. 

Coming  to  this  exodus,  the  greatest  since  the 
Eno-lish  left  the  shores  of  the  Baltic,  it  is  neces- 
sary  to  insist  again  upon  the  distinction  between 
Calvinist  and  Puritan,  which  is  as  clear  as  the 
distinction  between  the  Scotch  and  English  char- 
acter. In  the  judgement  of  the  Calvinist  the  unit 
of  all  organized  society  is  the  man  himself, 
elected  from  all  eternity,  called  of  God,  fore- 
ordained to  eternal  life  or  otherwise,  as  the  case 
may  be.  The  Puritan  looked  more  to  the  fact  that 
each  man  is  his  own  priest  and  every  such  group 
of  men  a  church,  independent  of  all  but  of  God, 
supreme  in  matters  ecclesiastical  and  spiritual. 
The  Pilgrims  went  a  step  further,  and  desired 
to  add  the  control  of  temporal  affairs  to  these 
functions  and  so  make  a  "new  experiment  in 
freedom." 

The  church  in  New  England  never  was  a  purely 
religious  institution.  Very  few  churches  in  those 
days  were  ;  at  least  it  is  now  difficult  to  perceive 
what  religious  purpose  they  could  have  served. 
It  was  purely  political  in  its  practices  and  aims, 
and  was  identical  with  the  state ;  membership  in 
the  church  was  essential  to  citizenship:  in  the 
phrase  of  the  time  there  could  be  no  divorce 


30  ESSAYS  IN  PURITANISM 

between  things  civil  and  things  religious  ;  and  the 
utmost  freedom  which  was  allowed  to  those  who 
were  unwilling  to  adopt  this  view  of  the  case  was 
the  liberty  of  going  out  into  the  wilderness, 
though  it  is  on  record  that  even  this  poor  privi- 
lege was  denied  to  some  men  and  to  some  women 
too. 

The  success  of  Puritanism  or  of  any  great 
cause  came  through  a  series  of  reverses.  The 
theocratic  government  —  and,  therefore,  oligar- 
chic, for  it  is  not  to  be  expected  that  God  will 
reveal  his  eternal  purposes  in  connection  with  the 
erection  and  support  of  meeting-houses,  the  tax- 
ing of  chimneys,  and  the  impounding  of  cattle 
equally  to  all  men  —  soon  broke  down  utterly,  and 
profanity  overflowed  the  land  like  a  second  flood, 
as  all  the  writers  of  the  period  testify.  This  tes- 
timony of  preachers  to  the  immorality  of  their 
times  and  to  their  own  imperfect  nature  must  be 
accepted  with  some  reserve.  The  Apostle  Paul 
accounted  himself  the  chief  of  sinners,  and  if  we 
had  independent  testimony  bearing  upon  the  con- 
dition of  the  Court  of  Herod,  we  might  adopt  a 
more  lenient  view  than  that  promulgated  by  John 
the  Baptist.  It  is  always  the  dweller  in  the  wil- 
derness who  knows  most  about  the  immoralities 
of  the  Court ;  it  is  to  such  places  as  Exeter  Hall 


JONATHAN  EDWARDS  31 

and  Madison  Square  Presbyterian  Church  that 
"we  must  look  for  an  intimate  knowledge  of  the 
conduct  of  important  personages  in  this  world 
and  in  the  two  dominions  of  the  world  to  come. 

It  is  easy  to  find  independent  confirmation  of 
the  pessimistic  views  entertained  by  the  moral- 
ists upon  the  spiritual  condition  of  New  England 
at  the  end  of  the  seventeenth  and  the  first  half 
of  the  eighteenth  century.  It  was  one  of  those 
strange  periods  of  dulness  and  stupidity  which  at 
times  overtake  the  human  race ;  but  if  one  went 
into  this  matter  at  length,  he  would  be  intruding 
in  a  field  which  Jonathan  Edwards  has  made 
peculiarly  his  own,  and  claiming  for  himself  an 
intimacy  of  knowledge  with  the  Worker  of  Evil 
which  no  man  in  these  days  is  willing  to  admit. 
That  great  philosopher  described  the  evil  agent 
as  "  the  greatest  fool  and  blockhead  in  the  world," 
and  gave  as  an  instance  of  his  wrongheadedness 
the  sending  of  the  people  to  New  England,  where 
he  hoped  they  might  be  forever  beyond  the  influ- 
ence of  the  gospel ;  but  then  anything  Edwards 
did  not  like  was  of  the  Devil. 

If  this  view  of  the  exodus  across  the  sea  be 
correct,  and  the  identity  of  Satan  as  the  great 
Pilgrim  be  acknowledged,  it  would  appear  that 
he  acted  with  the   subtlety  peculiar  to  him  in 


32  ESSAYS  IN  PURITANISM 

such  cases,  in  view  of  the  kind  of  gospel  the 
emigrants  were  likely  to  receive,  before  the  time 
of  Edwards.  The  more  closely  we  enquire  into 
the  religious  condition  of  New  England  at  the 
end  of  the  seventeenth  and  the  beginning  of  the 
eighteenth  century,  the  more  are  we  inclined  to 
applaud  the  far-sightedness  of  this  great  emigra- 
tion agent.  There  was  little  in  New  England  to 
encourage  a  natural  religion ;  everything  was  in 
favor  of  the  supernatural  variety  and  it  assumed 
the  most  fantastic  forms.  This  supernaturalism 
quickly  developed  into  the  grossest  and  most 
degrading  superstition,  witchcraft,  demoniacal 
possession,  sexual  immorality,  and  compulsory 
attendance  upon  church.  The  time  was  ripe  for 
a  great  reformer,  a  great  moralist,  and  a  great 
preacher,  and  all  three  arose  in  the  person  of 
Jonathan  Edwards. 

Jonathan  Edwards  was  born  in  East  Windsor, 
Connecticut,  in  1703.  He  came  of  Welsh  stock. 
His  father  was  a  graduate  of  Harvard  College, 
an  ordained  minister  for  sixty  years  and  a  man 
of  learning.  His  mother  was  a  daughter  of  Sol- 
omon Stoddard,  minister  in  Northampton,  a 
woman  "  surpassing  even  her  husband  in  native 
vigour  and  understanding."  This  must  have  been 
so,  for  he  relegated  to  her  all  domestic  affairs,  a 


JONATHAN  EDWARDS  33 

practice  one  could  wish  had  been  more  generally 
followed  in  New  England.  Jonathan  was  the 
fifth  child,  the  only  son  in  a  family  of  eleven 
children,  and  all  were  brought  up  in  accordance 
with  the  well-established  traditions  of  a  minis- 
terial household.  At  twelve  years  of  age,  the 
boy  was  writing  letters  to  refute  the  idea  of  the 
material  nature  of  the  soul ;  at  thirteen  he  went 
to  Yale  College,  and  graduated  at  the  age  of 
seventeen.  The  next  two  years  he  remained  at 
New  Haven  to  prosecute  his  theological  studies 
till  he  received  a  call  to  a  newly  organized  church 
in  New  York,  where  he  remained  eight  months, 
and  then  returned  to  Yale  to  take  up  the  duties 
of  tutor,  at  the  time  of  the  secession  of  so  many 
of  the  teaching  staff  to  the  Episcopal  Church. 
There  he  remained  till  he  was  twenty-three,  and 
all  this  time  he  was  exercising  himself  in  the  art 
of  writing.  Much  of  this  writing  was  merely 
transcription,  some  of  it  a  catching  and  setting 
down  of  the  philosophical  tissue  which  was  flying 
in  the  air. 

The  nature  of  Jonathan  Edwards  was  religious 
and  not  philosophical.  The  two  are  not  identical 
or  even  complementary  ;  they  may  be  in  contra- 
diction. If  we  say  his  temperament  was  poetical, 
that  would  be  a  cryptic  saying,  in  face  of  his  own 


34  ESSAYS  IN  PURITANISM 

declaration  that  lie  had  "  a  constitution  in  many 
respects  peculiarly  unhappy,  attended  with  flac- 
cid solids,  vapid,  sizy  and  scarce  fluids,  and  a  low 
tide  of  spirits,  often  occasioning  a  kind  of  child- 
ish weakness  and  contemptibleness  of  speech, 
presence,  and  demeanour."  These  are  commonly 
regarded  as  the  ingredients  of  a  philosopher  or 
theologian,  but  poets  too  have  their  own  pecu- 
liarities. He  had  intuitions  as  a  poet  has  ;  his 
thought  was  resolved  into  emotion,  and  though 
he  was  continually  striving  to  convert  it  into  a 
logical  form  he  was  never  able  to  distinguish  be- 
tween emotion  and  thought.  In  any  case  we  shall 
be  safe  in  affirming  that  he  had  the  apocalyptic 
sense. 

A  study  of  the  child  life  of  New  England  re- 
veals some  of  the  strangest  facts  in  psychology. 
The  abnormal  was  the  normal,  and  hysteria 
passed  for  the  greatest  good  sense.  The  misery 
attendant  upon  the  witchcraft  delusion,  the  sto- 
ries of  early  conversion,  accounts  of  the  precocity 
of  infants  of  four  years  of  age,  who  indulged  in 
secret  prayer,  in  private  religious  meetings  with 
children  scarcely  older  than  themselves,  tor- 
menting themselves  with  visions  of  hell  fire, — 
all  these  are  a  revelation  of  the  morbid  condi- 
tions which  arose  in  that  atmosphere.    The  child 


JONATHAN  EDWARDS  35 

Edwards  was  one  of  tliese.  He  was  continually 
ens-aeed  in  lookinoj  into  his  little  mind  and  form- 
ing  resolutions  for  amendment  of  the  faults  he 
discovered  there :  "  never  to  do,  be,  or  suffer 
anything  in  soul  or  body  but  what  might  tend  to 
the  glory  of  God  ;  to  live  with  all  my  might  while 
I  do  live ;  never  to  speak  anything  that  is  ridicu- 
lous or  a  matter  of  laughter  on  the  Lord's  day, 
and  frequently  to  renew  the  dedication  of  myself 
to  God." 

From  childhood  Edwards's  mind  had  been  full 
of  objections  to  the  doctrine  of  God's  sover- 
eignty ;  and  it  seemed  horrible  to  him,  as  it  has 
done  to  many  maturer  minds  since,  "  that  God 
could  choose  whom  he  would,  leaving  them  eter- 
nally to  perish  and  be  tormented  eternally  in 
hell."  At  last  he  became  happy  in  the  accept- 
ance of  this  strange  dogma  and  spent  his  life  in 
uro-ino"  its  acceptance  upon  others.  This  convic- 
tion was  reinforced  from  time  to  time,  when  he 
resorted  to  secluded  places,  "  to  meditate  upon 
the  things  of  God,  and  indulge  in  reverie  in  the 
woods  of  an  early  morning ;  to  look  into  his  own 
heart  which  seemed  like  an  abyss  infinitely  deeper 
than  hell."  At  such  times,  happily,  "  God's  glory 
was  revealed  to  him  through  the  whole  creation ; 
His  excellency,  wisdom,  purity,  and  love  seemed 


36  ESSAYS  IN  PURITANISM 

to  appear  in  the  sun,  moon,  and  stars,  in  the 
clouds  and  blue  sky,  in  the  grass,  flowers,  and 
trees,  in  the  water  and  all  nature."  On  one  occa- 
sion, when  he  had  ridden  into  the  woods  —  he 
had  now  attained  to  middle  life  —  and  alighted, 
"  to  walk  in  divine  contemplation  and  prayer, 
he  had  so  extraordinary  a  view  of  the  glory  of 
the  Son  of  God  and  his  wonderful  grace,  that  he 
remained  for  upwards  of  an  hour  in  a  flood  of 
tears  and  weeping  aloud."  All  this  was  charac- 
teristic of  the  gentle  mystic  and  not  of  the  rigid 
divine. 

Edwards  was  now  ready  for  his  work,  and  his 
opportunity  came.  In  1727,  being  in  his  twenty- 
fourth  year,  he  was  ordained  at  Northampton  as 
the  colleague  of  his  grandfather,  Solomon  Stod- 
dard, who  was  in  his  eighty-fourth  year,  a  man 
so  venerable  and  of  so  much  authority  that  the 
Indians  referred  to  him  as  the  Englishman's  God. 
The  new  incumbent  began  his  career  by  leading 
the  life  of  an  ascetic :  he  dwelt  by  himself  and 
studied  thirteen  hours  a  day ;  he  abstained  from 
all  amusement  and  from  any  excess  of  food, 
and  rarely  visited  his  parishioners.  This  method 
of  life  only  lasted  a  few  months,  for  the  young 
minister  married  a  girl  of  seventeen  with  whom 
he  had  become  acquainted  at  New  Haven.    Her 


JONATHAN  EDWARDS  37 

name  was  Sarah  Pierrepont ;  her  father  was  pro- 
fessor of  moral  philosophy  at  Yale,  and  on  her 
mother's  side  she  was  descended  from  Thomas 
Hooker,  the  founder  of  the  church  in  Connecticut. 
Edwards's  habit  of  thought  is  revealed  in  a  letter 
he  wrote  about  this  young  lady  some  years  before 
they  were  married,  at  a  period  it  would  seem 
before  he  had  made  her  acquaintance.  Unless 
upon  the  previous  assumption  that  he  was  a  poet, 
it  is  hard  to  guess  the  source  from  which  he  drew 
his  information. 

"  They  say  there  is  a  young  lady  in  New  Haven 
who  is  beloved  of  that  great  Being  who  made 
and  rules  the  world,  and  that  there  are  certain 
seasons  in  which  this  great  Being,  in  some  way 
or  other  invisible,  comes  to  her  and  fills  her  mind 
with  exceeding  sweet  delight,  and  that  she  hardly 
cares  for  anything  except  to  meditate  on  Him ; 
that  she  expects  after  a  while  to  be  received  up 
where  He  is,  to  be  raised  up  out  of  the  world  and 
caught  up  into  Heaven ;  being  assured  that  He 
loves  her  too  well  to  let  her  remain  at  a  distance 
from  Him  always.  There  she  is  to  dwell  with 
Him,  and  to  be  ravished  with  His  love  and  de- 
light for  ever.  Therefore,  if  you  present  all  the 
world  before  her,  with  the  richest  of  its  treasures, 
she  disregards  and  cares  not  for  it,  and  is  unmind- 


38  ESSAYS  IN  PURITANISM 

ful  of  any  pain  or  affliction.  She  has  a  strange 
sweetness  in  her  mind,  and  singular  purity  in  her 
affections  ;  is  most  just  and  conscientious  in  all 
her  conduct ;  and  you  could  not  persuade  her  to 
do  anything  wrong  or  sinful,  if  you  would  give 
her  all  the  world,  lest  she  should  offend  this 
great  Being.  She  is  of  a  wonderful  calmness  and 
universal  benevolence  of  mind ;  especially  after 
this  great  God  has  manifested  Himself  to  her 
mind.  She  will  sometimes  go  about  from  place 
to  place  singing  sweetly ;  and  seems  to  be  always 
full  of  joy  and  pleasure,  and  no  one  knows  for 
what.  She  loves  to  be  alone,  walking  in  the  fields 
and  groves,  and  seems  to  have  some  one  invisible 
always  conversing  with  her." 

One  result  of  this  marriage  v;^s  a  family  of 
eleven  children,  ten  of  whom  came  to  maturity ; 
one  of  the  daughters  afterwards  became  the 
mother  of  Aaron  Burr,  who  "  murdered  "  Alex- 
ander Hamilton  in  a  duel,  became  vice-president 
of  the  United  States,  and  finished  his  career  in 
a  trial  for  treason  on  account  of  a  foolish  con- 
spiracy to  set  up  a  southern  dominion. 

The  minister  appears  to  have  ruled  well  his 
own  household.  He  was  "  thorough  in  the  gov- 
ernment of  his  children,  and  bent  them  to  his 
will ;  he  was  a  great  enemy  to  all  vain  amuse- 


JONATHAN  EDWARDS  39 

ments  and  pernicious  practices."  It  is  well  that 
it  was  Aaron  Burr  the  father,  rather  than  the 
son,  who  broke  into  that  well-regulated  house- 
hold. 

We  shall  leave  at  one  side  for  the  moment  any 
consideration  of  Jonathan  Edwards  as  a  philo- 
sopher, though  with  the  strange  irony  of  events, 
it  is  upon  this  aspect  of  his  character  that  chief 
attention  has  been  fixed.  He  was  a  great  preacher 
of  righteousness;  yet  if  we  look  only  in  his 
printed  sermons,  we  shall  not  get  very  far  in 
understanding  the  secret  of  his  influence  upon 
contemporary  and  subsequent  life.  The  first  edi- 
tion of  Edwards's  works,  including  his  sermons, 
was  issued  in  Worcester,  Massachusetts,  in  eight 
volumes,  in  1809,  and  was  afterwards  republished 
in  four  volumes.  Both  issues  are  still  accessible ; 
also  Dr.  Dwight's  edition  published  in  New  York 
in  ten  volumes,  in  1829,  and  a  London  edition 
of  eight  volumes  by  Williams  in  1817,  with  two 
supplementary  volumes  by  an  Edinburgh  firm. 
There  is  also  an  edition  in  two  large  volumes  by 
Bohn,  which  contains  a  good  portrait. 

There  are  very  few  persons  now  living  who  lay 
claim  to  having  read  largely  of  Edwards's  ser- 
mons, and  there  are  fewer  still  who  have  actually 
done  so.    They  are  hard  to  master,  though  an 


40  ESSAYS  IN  PURITANISM 

excellent  discipline,  and  it  is  only  by  a  process  of 
slow  growth  that  one  brought  up  in  the  Calvinist 
faith  arrives  at  the  perception  that  there  can  be 
such  a  thing  as  nonsense  in  a  sermon.  Preaching 
must  be  a  dull  business  where  the  speaker  is  not 
sure  of  making  himself  understood ;  it  is  much 
worse  when  the  preacher  himself  does  not  under- 
stand what  he  is  saying ;  and  when  his  utterances 
are  reduced  to  writing,  the  confusion  is  worse 
confounded.  When  a  man  talks  about  things  he 
does  not  understand,  to  people  who  do  not  un- 
derstand the  terms  he  is  using,  it  is  easy  to  guess 
what  lucidity  there  will  be  in  his  reported  utter- 
ances. A  writer  with  a  fine  style  can  interest  a 
reader  in  things  which  in  themselves  possess  no 
interest  whatever ;  but  Edwards  had  no  fine  style ; 
his  style  is  more  involved  than  his  matter,  and 
though  he  could  write  bad  Latin,  that  did  not 
qualify  him  for  writing  good  English.  As  Haz- 
litt  observed  in  his  own  ironic  way,  it  is  easy  to 
be  a  great  preacher  if  a  man  is  allowed  to  start 
from  no  data  and  come  to  no  conclusions.  The 
same  observation  of  course  is  true  about  writers 
also. 

Edwards  seized  upon  a  theme  and  made  it  his 
own.  He  knew  nothing  of  this  world,  and  very 
little  of  heaven  or  of  men ;  he  made  people  be- 


JONATHAN  EDWARDS  41 

lieve  that  he  knew  a  great  deal  about  hell  and 
devils.  As  a  matter  of  fact  he  knew  no  more 
about  hell  than  we  do,  and  had  no  greater  inti- 
macy with  the  Devil  than  we  have,  but  he  had  the 
capacity  of  interesting  people  in  the  fearsome 
theme,  because  he  himself  was  intensely  con- 
cerned with  it.  Satan  was  God's  emissary,  and 
the  fear  of  hell  his  chief  weapon  for  reducing 
men  to  obedience  and  instilling  into  their  hearts 
love  for  his  being  and  a  recognition  of  his  bene- 
volent purposes. 

Jonathan  Edwards  was  a  great  preacher  and  a 
great  moralist  by  reason  of  his  hatred  of  sin.  He 
held  himself  aloof  from  the  things  of  this  world, 
and  rejected  the  concerns  of  this  life.  Engrossed 
in  exalted  matters,  he  was  not  tempted  himself, 
and  could  not  appreciate  the  power  of  temptation 
upon  others.  His  own  zeal  for  morality  was  so 
great,  his  piety  so  deep,  his  principles  so  fixed, 
his  ideals  so  pure,  that  he  had  no  sympathy  with 
the  lower  concerns  of  other  people  nor  any  tolera- 
tion of  the  things  that  interested  them.  Occupy- 
ing this  exalted  position,  he  gave  way  to  pride ; 
unchecked  by  the  opinions  of  his  fellows,  he  be- 
lieved he  was  right  when  he  was  surely  wrong ; 
his  mind  became  harsh  and  bare  when  it  should 
have  been  genial  and  rich,  for  these  qualities 


42  ESSAYS   IN  PURITANISM 

only  come  from  a  tried  and  varied  life.  To 
Edwards,  the  soul  was  nothing  but  moral.  In- 
tellect and  the  artistic  sense  did  not  touch  it,  save 
in  so  far  as  they  had  to  do  with  morality,  and 
intellect  and  the  artistic  sense  we  know  have  not 
necessarily  anything  to  do  with  morality.  He 
demanded  grandeur  and  purity  alone,  caring 
nothing  either  for  beauty  or  for  richness. 

The  normal  mind  appreciates  certain  things  in 
nature  and  draws  its  own  conclusions  from  them. 
That  was  how  the  Greeks  arrived  at  their  notions 
of  religion.  The  Calvinists,  and  Edwards  with 
them,  found  the  source  of  religion  in  the  mind, 
not  in  the  world  without,  and  they  say  they  know 
how  it  was  implanted  there.  All  reasonable  men 
agree  that  there  is  a  moral  principle  in  the 
human  nature,  a  desire  to  do  right,  or  at  least 
a  dislike  of  doing  wrong.  We  do  not  claim  to 
know  how  it  got  there,  and  if  any  one  tell  us  we 
shall  not  believe  him.  The  most  we  are  willing 
to  do  is  to  make  the  feeble  admission,  along  with 
Sir  Leslie  Stephen,  that  nearly  all  men  go  so  far 
as  to  desire  to  do  right,  and  that  there  are  very 
few  to  whom  wrong-doing  is  a  positive  pleasure. 

The  fatal  error  in  Edwards's  doctrine,  and  in 
the  Calvinists'  too,  is  their  explanation  of  the 
forgiveness  of  sin.   Not  the  blood  of  any  sacrifice 


JONATHAN  EDWARDS  43 

can  atone  for  it,  nor  the  fires  of  the  Calvinist  hell 
purge  away  its  stain.  In  the  portentous  words 
of  Bishop  Butler,  "  things  are  what  they  are,  and 
the  consequences  of  them  will  be  what  they  will 
be."  It  seems  more  difficult  in  these  days  than 
in  times  past  for  men  to  discover  the  eternal 
purposes  of  God,  and  lay  bare  the  methods  of 
divine  procedure.  We  have  some  reticence  in 
affirming  what  God  can  do  and  what  God  cannot 
do,  but  we  shall  be  well  within  the  mark  in  as- 
serting that  God  himself  cannot  forgive  sins  in 
any  such  rough  and  ready,  good-natured  method 
as  has  been  attributed  to  him.  The  healing  of 
the  sick,  the  raising  of  the  dead  to  life,  the  arrest 
of  the  elements  in  their  course  —  all  these  we 
can  pretend  to  understand.  But  the  divinest 
thaumaturgy  of  all  is  the  conversion  of  evil  into 
good.  That  is  the  only  sense  in  which  God  can 
forgive  sin,  and  it  is  by  the  conversion  of  evil 
into  good  that  he  reveals  in  the  highest  his  in- 
finiteness  of  power,  of  patience,  of  mercj^  and  of 
justice,  and  it  requires  an  eternity  of  time  to  com- 
plete the  transformation.  If  it  were  not  so,  evil 
in  the  end  must  triumph  over  good,  and  that  we 
do  not  believe,  for  we  could  not  believe  it  and  live. 
However,  the  value  of  this  fear  of  hell  is  not 
to  be  despised    as    a    moral   agent,   for   in    all 


44  ESSAYS  IN  PURITANISM 

times  the  average  conception  of  religon  has  been 
to  placate  a  power  not  ourselves.  Certainly,  Ed- 
wards's parishioners  in  Northampton  received  the 
full  benefits  of  this  moral  agent,  and  it  was  not 
a  bad  device  in  so  far  as  their  minds  were  won 
over  to  serious  things. 

All  writing  about  Jonathan  Edwards  is  the 
merest  trifling  if  one  do  not  give  some  account  of 
the  part  he  played  in  the  great  revival  that  was 
coincident  with  the  times  in  which  he  wrought. 
The  present  writer  has  lived  through  two  of  these 
manifestations ;  as  a  detached  observer,  it  is  true, 
—  in  the  earlier  one  on  account  of  youthf  ulness  ; 
in  the  later,  on  account  of  hardness  of  heart  or 
other  incapacity.  And  these  revivals  too  were 
associated  with  a  still  earlier  one,  and  that  in 
turn  by  tradition  was  directly  traceable  to  what 
is  known  in  evangelical  circles  as  the  Great  Re- 
vival of  Edwards.  The  most  casual  reader  of 
history  is  struck  by  the  frequent  occurrence  of 
these  strange  upheavals  of  the  moral  nature,  at 
one  time  manifesting  themselves  by  wholesale 
crusades  against  some  fanciful  infidel,  by  the 
burning  of  heretics,  and  again  by  the  harassing 
of  priests  and  the  destruction  of  churches.  At 
rare  intervals  they  have  taken  the  form  of  an 
awakeninof  and  a  reformation  of  the  individual 


JONATHAN  EDWARDS  45 

character,  as  was  the  case  in  the  great  movement 
with  which  Wesley  had  to  do. 

However  these  revivals  may  be  described,  —  as 
"  a  sound  of  a  going  in  the  tops  of  the  mulberry 
trees,"  as  "an  outpouring  of  the  spirit,"  as  "a 
troubling  of  the  waters,"  —  at  bottom  they  have 
been  due  to  a  revolt  on  the  part  of  humanity 
against  the  accumulation  of  evil  under  which 
at  length  it  felt  itself  to  lie.  They  have  always 
occurred  when  the  people  were  seized  with  a 
great  idea ;  and  in  the  case  of  the  revival  which 
is  called  "  great "  the  dominating  idea  was  the 
immediate  association  of  the  divine  spirit  with 
the  soul  of  man.  That  idea  arose  in  the  mind  of 
Jonathan  Edwards  with  new  force.  Calvin  had 
fixed  a  great  gulf  between  God  and  man,  yet 
even  he  made  an  attempt  to  bridge  it  by  the 
work  of  the  Spirit ;  Luther  endeavoured  to  bring 
the  two  into  some  kind  of  communion  throusfh 
the  medium  of  devout  feeling  ;  it  was  left  for  the 
Puritan  churches  to  insist  upon  proof  that  the 
gulf  had  been  bridged,  and  to  Edwards  to  preach 
the  doctrine  of  the  immediacy  of  God,  the  same 
which  Paul  preached  on  Mars  Hill,  that  "  He 
is  nigh  unto  every  one  of  us."  This  then  was 
the  great  work  of  the  New  England  preacher, 
and  it  was  taken  up  in  due  time  by  Wesley  and 


46  ESSAYS  IN  PURITANISM 

Whitefield  in  England,  and  finally  by  Emerson 
and  Whitman  and  the  Unitarians  in  America. 
Who  then  shall  say  it  was  not  a  great  work  ? 

Whilst  the  fervour  lasted,  there  was  much 
confusion :  the  minds  of  many  men  and  women 
became  disordered  by  excessive  fear  and  concern. 
When  they  were  convinced  of  the  fate  in  store 
for  them,  they  did  not  accept  the  situation  calmly, 
but  lay  in  agony,  with  wild  outcries,  and  an  in- 
ward fear  that  was  unutterable.  The  pastor  found 
nothing  unusual  in  this  manifestation  of  concern ; 
for  did  not  John  fall  at  the  feet  of  Jesus  as  one 
dead  ?  did  not  Jacob  dislocate  his  thigh  ?  and  did 
not  the  disciples  toil  all  night?  Some  few  are 
said  to  have  received  an  assurance  that  their  fears 
were  groundless,  that  they  were  safe  from  the 
divine  vengeance ;  and  a  man  in  that  happy  situ- 
ation is  not  apt  to  bear  himself  with  humility ; 
indeed  he  is  liable  to  take  his  stand  behind  a  new- 
found security  and  presume  that  he  may  sin  with 
impunity.  However  that  may  be,  we  soon  find 
Jonathan  Edwards  confessing  "that  many  of 
these  high  professors  were  fallen  into  great  im- 
moralities, that  their  conversation  was  more  in 
keeping  with  the  character  of  a  sailor  than  of 
a  Christian,  and  that  they  were  manifesting  an 
incorrigible  wildness  in  their  behaviour." 


JONATHAN  EDWARDS  47 

The  reaction  had  come.  The  people  o£  North- 
ampton had  been  told  that  "the  bulk  of  man- 
kind was  reserved  for  burning,"  that  "  innocent 
as  children  seem  to  us,  they  are  not  so  in  God's 
sight,  but  are  young  vipers,  and  infinitely  more 
hateful  than  vipers ; "  that  they  themselves,  those 
decent  village  people,  "  were  all  over  deformed 
and  loathsome  as  a  filthy  worm,  little  wretched 
despicable  creatures,  vile  insects  risen  up  in  con- 
tempt against  the  majesty  of  heaven  and  earth  ; " 
but  these  statements  did  not  receive  any  general 
acceptance.  One  man,  however,  did  believe  what 
he  heard,  and  he  adopted  the  sensible  procedure 
of  cutting  his  throat.  Edwards  took  it  as  a  mat- 
ter of  course  that  "  persons  should  murder  them- 
selves under  religious  melancholy,  who  would  not 
have  done  so  had  they  remained  in  heathen  dark- 
ness ; "  but  if  all  the  people  had  believed,  there 
would  not  have  been  trees  enough  in  Massachu- 
setts whereon  to  hang  themselves.  They  listened 
with  more  or  less  apathy,  just  as  children,  who 
are  insensible  to  the  sin  and  misery  and  sorrow 
which  are  in  the  world. 

That  is  ever  the  fate  of  all  appeals  to  the  emo- 
tions ;  the  stimulus  must  be  increased,  but  at 
length  the  healthy  nature  will  reassert  itself.  So 
long  as  Edwards  was  content  to  deal  with  sin  in 


48  ESSAYS  IN  PURITANISM 

general  terms,  no  one  took  offence,  but  when  he 
undertook  to  apply  his  epithets  to  individuals, 
they  took  it  for  incivility,  and  all,  good  and  bad, 
save  twenty  out  of  two  hundred,  united  to  turn 
him  out  of  the  community  which  he  had  served  for 
twenty-three  years.  Yet  it  must  have  been  with 
a  sense  of  relief  that  they  witnessed  his  departure. 
There  would  be  peace,  at  least  so  long  as  they 
remained  in  this  world,  and  that  was  something. 
They  were  content  to  let  the  Devil  have  his  own 
way  for  a  little ;  probably  familiarity  with  that 
important  New  England  personage  had  bred  con- 
tempt ;  yet  it  must  have  brought  consolation  to 
the  exile,  to  know  that  some  of  his  parishioners 
who  had  been  most  zealous  in  stirring  up  strife 
were  afterwards  stricken  with  remorse,  and  even 
went  so  far  as  to  apply  to  themselves  the  subject- 
matter  of  the  imprecatory  psalms. 

The  situation  of  the  dispossessed  minister  was 
one  of  difficulty.  He  was  past  middle  life;  he 
had  a  wife  and  ten  children  dependent  upon 
him,  and  he  was  without  means.  Some  help  came 
from  Scotland  in  the  way  of  books  and  words  o£ 
encouragement  to  continue  the  controversy,  which 
perhaps  was  not  the  best  advice.  A  call  soon 
came  from  the  church  in  Stockbridge,  a  frontier 
settlement  composed  entirely  of  Indians,  and  there 


JONATHAN   EDWARDS  49 

Edwards  went  in  1751,  under  appointment  from 
the  Board  of  Commissioners  for  Indian  Affairs 
in  Boston,  and  with  some  support  from  England. 
This  interest  in  the  Indians  was  a  form  of  exag- 
gerated sentimentality  peculiar  to  the  time,  and 
it  was  fostered  by  all  of  those  who  took  up  the 
"  Return  to  Nature  "  cry,  raised  by  Rousseau  and 
the  poets  of  the  eighteenth  century,  who  were 
more  gifted  in  folly  than  any  poets  before  or 
since.  Under  its  influence  both  Wesley  and 
Whitefield  had  gone  to  preach  in  Georgia. 

There  is  something  irresistibly  comic  in  the 
idea  of  Jonathan  Edwards  being  ordained  as 
a  missionary  to  the  Indians.  Amongst  the  older 
writers  it  was  a  favourite  theory  that  the  Indians 
would  readily  be  won  over  to  the  Christian  reli- 
gion, and  would  accept  with  unquestioning  faith 
their  account  of  its  mysteries.  They  were  led  to 
this  conclusion,  an  erroneous  one  as  it  afterwards 
proved,  by  their  misconception  of  the  nature  of 
the  Indians  and  of  the  nature  of  Christianity 
also.  This  wild  offspring  of  Adam's  degenerate 
seed  were  able  to  comprehend  the  doctrine  of  the 
Jesuits  in  so  far  as  it  could  be  expressed  in  im- 
ages ;  they  never  even  got  to  the  length  of  under- 
standing pictorial  representations,  because  their 
knowledge  of  art  did  not  extend  to  the  subject 


60  ESSAYS  IN  PURITANISM 

of  drawing  on  plane  surfaces.  To  them  a  saint 
drawn  in  profile  was  only  half  a  man.  One  con- 
vert apostasized  as  soon  as  it  was  revealed  to 
him,  through  a  more  profound  knowledge  of  ex- 
egesis, that  the  sword  of  the  spirit  was  not  pri- 
marily intended  for  the  rending  asunder  of  the 
joints  and  bones  of  his  enemies,  and  another  lost 
all  consolation  from  the  Christian  religion  when 
it  was  borne  in  upon  him  that  the  pains  of  hell 
were  reserved  for  members  of  his  own  tribe  also, 
and  it  might  be  for  himself  as  well.  It  is  no  won- 
der then  that  the  savages  found  the  religion  of 
New  England  too  high  for  them,  and  if  their  new 
missionary  had  spoken  his  mind  freely  upon  the 
subject  of  their  future  state,  it  would  not  have 
been  more  tolerable  to  them  than  it  had  been  to 
the  inhabitants  of  Northampton. 

In  the  selections  from  the  unpublished  writ- 
ings of  Edwards,  by  Gossart,  we  have  the  skele- 
ton of  a  sermon  which  he  preached  to  his  new 
charge  through  an  interpreter.  The  subject  was 
worthy  of  the  occasion,  and  the  treatment  was 
after  the  best  manner  of  the  author  of  the  "  Free- 
dom of  the  Will."  Calvinism  from  the  mind  of 
Edwards,  through  the  mouth  of  an  interpreter,  to 
the  mind  of  the  North  American  Indian,  is  an  ap- 
palling thing  to  consider ;  yet  the  new  missionary 


JONATHAN   EDWARDS  51 

did  not  fail  in  his  duty.  He  divided  and  sub- 
divided his  subject ;  he  elaborated  and  condensed, 
and  yet  it  is  doubtful  if  his  hearers  comprehended 
the  full  import  of  his  doctrine  any  better  than 
we  do. 

The  history  of  Indian  affairs  at  Stockbridge 
was  pretty  much  like  the  history  of  Indian  affairs 
in  other  parts  of  the  United  States  before  and 
since,  a  record  of  peculation,  oppression,  and 
abuse.  Against  these  Edwards  made  good  head- 
way and  drove  the  offenders  from  the  field,  but  at 
the  end  of  two  years  his  congregation  had  van- 
ished further  into  the  forest,  and  he  was  once 
more  relieved  from  his  charge.  These  years,  how- 
ever, were  years  of  "pleasure  and  profit"  to  the 
philosopher.  He  had  leisure  for  writing,  and 
the  more  he  wrote  "  the  more  and  wider  the  field 
opened  before  him."  It  was  here  he  wrote  and 
published  the  "  Freedom  of  the  Will,"  and  his 
treatise  on  the  "  Nature  of  Virtue,"  and  "  God's 
Last  End  in  the  Creation  of  the  World."  Here 
also  he  wrote  his  famous  work  on  "  Original  Sin," 
and  besides  these  performances  he  had  leisure  to 
meditate  upon  a  great  matter.  This  was  a  history 
of  the  Kedemption.  It  was  to  be  a  "body  of 
divinity  in  an  entire  new  method,  being  thrown 
into  the  form  of  a  history."    It  was  to  begin  and 


52  ESSAYS  IN   PURITANISM 

end  with  eternity,  and  all  great  events  were  to 
be  viewed  sub  specie  aeternitatis  ;  heaven,  hell, 
and  earth  were  to  be  the  scenes ;  it  was  to  in- 
clude "  all  divine  doctrines,  showing  the  admir- 
able contexture  and  harmony  of  the  whole."  Such 
a  production  would  have  been  a  fairly  marvellous 
feat,  but  it  never  came  to  anything.  All  persons 
who  write  much  have  such  visions  of  grandeur, 
but  fortunately  they  never  proceed  very  far  to- 
wards the  realization  of  them. 

From  these  happy  labours  Jonathan  Edwards 
was  called  in  1757  to  be  the  official  head  of 
Princeton,  then  as  now  the  earthly  seat  of  all 
authority  in  the  Presbyterian  religion  of  the 
United  States.  He  occupied  the  position  for  less 
than  three  months,  and  died  on  the  22d  of  March, 
1758,  in  the  fifty-fifth  year  of  his  age,  as  a  result 
of  inoculation  with  the  virus  of  smallpox. 

It  yet  remains  to  turn  to  that  side  of  Ed- 
wards's nature  which  was  essentially  philosoph- 
ical. Many  of  the  speculations  with  which  the  old 
philosophers  tormented  themselves  appear  to  the 
ordinary  man  as  so  much  rubbish.  He  thinks 
there  is  no  use  bothering  with  them,  because  he 
knows  that,  in  what  used  to  be  called  philosophy, 
the  only  certainty  is  that  any  given  proposition 
is  probably  false.    In  some  cases  the  probability 


JONATHAN  EDWARDS  53 

may  be  high,  and  in  others  low,  but  when  the 
thing  is  likely  to  be  equally  true  and  equally 
false,  he  thinks  he  might  as  well  be  pitching  cop- 
pers. Many  of  these  problems  we  have  already 
solved  to  our  own  satisfaction ;  in  the  words  of 
Dr.  Johnson,  we  know  the  will  is  free  and  that  is 
the  end  of  it ;  some  we  are  content  to  leave  in 
obscurity,  as  Dr.  Johnson  also  was  obliged  to  do, 
when  the  revelation  he  was  about  to  make  upon 
the  future  state  was  interrupted  by  an  untimely 
visitor ;  about  others  we  have  no  means  of  know- 
ing, and  the  remaining  ones  have  no  interest  for 
us.  But  it  has  not  always  been  so.  There  was 
a  time  when  men  had  a  passion  for  enquiring  into 
those  thincrs  which  the  Germans  call  the  uncon- 
ditioned,  about  which  nothing  can  ever  be  learned, 
and  to  leave  aside  those  things  of  which  the  truth 
may  be  ascertained  by  diligent  enquiry. 

With  the  singular  irony  of  events  it  is  upon 
his  philosophic  speculations  that  the  fame  of 
Jonathan  Edwards  rests,  and  according  to  the 
measure  of  philosophers  he  was  of  no  mean  rank. 
The  subjects  he  treated  were  as  profound,  his 
method  as  obscure,  his  course  of  reasoning  as  sin- 
uous, his  conclusions  as  unintelligible,  as  those 
of  any  pioneer  into  the  Teutonic  mysteries.  It 
does  not  interest  us  now  whether  the  will  be  free 


54  ESSAYS  IN  PURITANISM 

or  not,  or  what  may  be  the  nature  of  true  virtue ; 
no  one  now  defends  or  attacks  the  proposition 
of  original  sin,  or  claims  that  one  is  sometimes 
three.  It  may  be  so,  but  we  have  other  things  to 
bother  about ;  yet  a  mind  that  was  interested  in 
these  subtilties  and  resolute  to  deal  with  them 
must  always  possess  a  profound  interest  for  us. 
It  is,  therefore,  worth  while  observing  the  work- 
ings of  the  mind  of  Edwards  upon  these  sub- 
jects, leaving  at  one  side  as  much  as  possible  any 
consideration  of  the  subjects  themselves. 

The  earliest  manifestations  of  Edwards's  philo- 
sophic activity  were  revealed  in  his  fourteenth 
year  in  "  Notes  on  the  Mind."  These  early  notes 
contain  the  germinal  thought  of  all  Edwards's 
later  philosophy,  and  deal  with  the  wiU  and  its 
freedom,  ideas  abstract  and  innate,  causation  and 
the  association  of  ideas.  In  his  doctrine  of  ex- 
cellency one  finds  an  agreement  with  Plato's  con- 
ception of  the  good ;  in  his  doctrine  of  the  one 
substance,  he  is  in  agreement  with  Spinoza ;  and 
his  proclamation  that  the  universe  exists  only  in 
the  mind  of  God  is  precisely  that  of  Malebranche. 
Such  expressions  as  "bodies  have  no  existence 
of  their  own,"  "  all  existence  is  neutral,"  "  the 
existence  of  all  things  is  ideal,"  "  matter  is  truly 
nothing  at  all,  strictly  and  in  itself  considered," 


JONATHAN  EDWARDS  55 

"  I  had  as  well  speak  plain,  space  is  God,"  are 
almost  in  their  entirety  a  reproduction  of  the 
philosophy  of  Berkeley.  Space  may  be  God,  but 
even  so,  the  definition  does  not  go  very  far 
towards  clarifying  our  conceptions  of  either  the 
one  or  the  other. 

If  Edwards  between  the  ages  of  fourteen  and 
seventeen  had  elaborated  such  a  body  of  doctrine 
as  is  revealed  in  his  "  Notes  on  the  Mind,"  that 
would  have  been  a  record  in  precocity,  and  his 
biographers  claim  that  he  did  so,  on  the  ground 
that  there  is  no  evidence  that  he  had  read  any 
of  Berkeley's  writings.  These  notes  were  written 
up  to  the  year  1819  and  perhaps  later ;  the  "  New 
Theory  of  Vision,"  the  "  Principles  of  Human 
Knowledge,"  and  the  "  Dialogues,"  had  been  pub- 
lished several  years  earlier  by  Berkeley.  There 
is  another  fact :  Dr.  Samuel  Johnson,  afterwards 
President  of  King's  College,  New  York,  was  dur- 
ing Edwards's  career  at  college  a  tutor  at  Yale, 
and  he  was  a  warm  friend  and  ardent  follower 
of  the  great  English  idealist.  At  any  rate  there 
was  something  in  the  air,  and  at  that  time  the 
interchange  of  ideas  between  the  old  world  and 
the  new  was  as  complete  if  not  so  swift  as  it  is 
now.  If  we  assume  —  there  are  some  things  we 
cannot  prove  —  that  the  lad  was  informed  of  the 


56  ESSAYS  IN  PURITANISM 

speculations  of  Berkeley,  we  avoid  the  admission 
of  a  miracle,  which  is  always  a  desirable  thing ; 
but  we  must  still  wonder  that  so  young  a  child 
should  have  taken  so  profound  an  interest  in 
them  as  to  put  them  in  his  own  words,  and  that 
was  a  miracle  in  its  own  way.  There  is  no  dif- 
ficulty in  assuming  that  the  young  philosopher 
had  access  to  the  writings  of  Malebranche,  for 
the  "  Recherche  de  la  Verite "  had  then  been 
before  the  public  for  forty  years  ;  two  good  trans- 
lations into  English  had  been  made  before  1704, 
and  Norris  had  worked  over  the  material  for  his 
"  Theory  of  an  Ideal  World  "  at  least  as  early  as 
that. 

It  matters  little  what  other  sources  of  sugges- 
tion he  possessed,  for,  speaking  absurdly,  Locke's 
writings  were  in  the  hand  of  every  schoolboy, 
and  Locke  had  boasted  to  Lady  Masham  that 
he  himself  had  read  Descartes  and  Spinoza,  and 
that  what  he  read  had  been  intelligible  to  him. 
Edwards  acknowledged  freely  his  indebtedness 
to  Locke ;  he  makes  no  reference  to  his  obliga- 
tions in  other  quarters,  but  we  must  bear  in  mind 
that  he  was  of  a  reserved  nature,  and  after  some 
pages  of  cipher  writing  he  adds :  "  remember  to 
act  according  to  the  proverb,  *a  prudent  man 
concealeth  knowledge.' " 


JONATHAN  EDWARDS  67 

Locke  has  been  the  source  of  more  inspiration 
than  that  which  Edward  derived  from  him ;  in- 
deed nearly  all  the  good  and  much  of  the  evil 
that  occurred  in  the  eighteenth  century  is  trace- 
able to  the  wisdom  and  common  sense,  the  calm 
reasonableness  and  reverence  for  facts  of  this 
great  philosopher.  The  French  Revolution  was 
the  logical  deduction  from  his  postulate  that  the 
ultimate  sovereignty  of  a  people  rests  on  a  virtual 
consent  or  contract  to  be  governed.  Of  course 
the  French  went  too  far,  as  the  Calvinists  also 
did,  in  the  destruction  of  the  wicked ;  the  English 
alone  can  be  trusted  to  stop  short  of  absurdity  in 
pushing  conclusions  home,  because  the  English 
mind  has  a  contempt  for  pure  reason,  a  hatred  of 
abstractions  which  are  contrary  to  common  sense, 
a  distrust  of  speculations  which  do  not  fit  in  with 
some  rule  of  thumb  by  which  they  have  been 
working  for  three  or  four  generations.  Ethics 
and  philosophy  and  even  theology  they  think 
must  be  kept  in  their  place,  along  with  steam- 
engines,  macadamized  roads,  and  spinning-jennies, 
and  all  are  to  be  brought  to  the  same  test  of  experi- 
ence. That  is  why  the  English  philosophers  have 
been  kept  from  working  mischief,  in  their  own 
country  at  least. 

But  Edwards  never  got  so  far  as  to  develop  a 


58  ESSAYS  IN  PURITANISM 

harmonious  system.  To  him  the  works  of  Hobbes 
and  Hume  were  only  corrupt  books,  and  yet  in 
making  virtue  a  second  object  of  life,  without 
knowing  it,  he  fell  into  agreement  with  the  utili- 
tarian theories  of  Hume,  Bentham,  and  Mill ;  his 
theory  of  the  Will  is  now  held  only  by  professed 
agnostics,  and  by  a  few  who  call  themselves 
Christians. 

I  shall  speak  in  another  place  of  the  value  of 
the  mathematical  method  in  solving  historical 
problems.  The  analogy  between  mathematics  and 
history  is  very  close.  There  is  a  method  of  analy- 
sis by  which  relations  are  deduced  amongst  quan- 
tities by  considering  the  relations  existing  between 
infinitesimal  variations  in  those  quantities ;  that 
is  to  say,  by  the  consideration  of  infinitesimally 
small  quantities  we  may  attain  to  finite  results. 
The  edifice  of  history  is  built  up  stone  by  stone, 
but  from  absolute  lack  of  material,  insignificant 
as  that  material  may  appear  to  be,  there  must  be 
wide  gaps  in  the  structure.  It  is  a  favourite  occu- 
pation of  beginners  in  the  integral  calculus  to 
prove  strange  things  by  the  use  of  that  method 
of  analysis,  that  one  is  equal  to  three  and  three 
to  one ;  but  the  fallacy  lies  in  the  improper  em- 
ployment of  the  symbols  denoting  Nothing  and 
Infinity.     The  relation  which  exists  between  the 


JONATHAN  EDWARDS  59 

diameter  and  the  circumference  of  a  circle  is  indi- 
cated by  a  symbol  and  cannot  be  completely 
expressed  in  any  terms,  words,  or  figures  of  which 
we  have  any  knowledge.  Every  intelligent  boy 
has  amused  himself  in  seeking  a  fuller  expression 
of  that  relation  by  the  addition  of  more  decimal 
places,  and  always  with  the  belief  and  secret 
ambition  that  by  searching  the  thing  could  be 
found  out ;  but  with  more  mature  knowledge  he 
is  obliged  to  fall  back  upon  the  symbol.  Jona- 
than Edwards  had  faith  that  he  could  express  in 
set  terms  relations  which  can  only  be  expressed 
by  symbols,  and  he  confused  the  symbols  denot- 
ing Infinity  and  Nothing.  That  is  why  he  has 
proved  strange  things. 

In  the  text  of  the  "  Essay  on  the  Trinity,"  as 
recently  published  by  Professor  Fisher,  there  are 
fine  examples  of  the  adaptation  of  the  mathemat- 
ical method  to  the  solution  of  "  theorems  in  divin- 
ity," from  which  one  illustration  will  serve :  "  In 
order  to  clear  up  this  matter,  let  it  be  considered 
that  the  whole  divine  office  is  supposed  to  subsist 
in  each  of  these  three,  namely,  G.,  his  under- 
standings, his  love,  and  that  there  is  such  a  won- 
derful union  between  them,  that  they  are  after 
an  ineffable  and  inconceivable  manner  one  in  an- 
other, and  as  it  were  predicable  one  of  another ; 


60  ESSAYS  IN  PURITANISM 

as  X.  said  of  himself  and  the  F.,  I  am  in  the  F. 
and  the  F.  in  me,  so  the  F.  is  in  the  Son  and  the 
S.  in  the  F.,  the  H.  Gh.  is  in  the  F.  and  F.  in 
the  H.  Gh.,  the  H.  Gh.  is  in  the  S.  and  the  Son 
in  the  H.  Gh.,  and  the  F.  understands  because  the 
Son  is  in  him,  the  F.  loves  because  the  H.  Gh.  is 
in  him,  so  the  Son  loves  because  the  H.  Gh.  is  in 
him  and  proceeds  from  him,  so  the  H.  Gh.  or  the 
divine  essence  subsisting  is  divine,  but  under- 
stands because  the  Son,  the  divine  Idea,  is  in 
him."  Edwards  from  this  formula  would  con- 
clude :  Q.  E.  D.  We  may  be  permitted  to  sub- 
stitute our  own  conclusion :  "  Which  is  absurd." 
We  may  also  question  the  propriety  of  reducing 
the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  to  the  terms  L.  J.  X. 

One  might  be  convicted  of  ignorance  —  and 
that  justly  —  if  he  did  not  give  expression  to  the 
suspicion  which  has  been  in  the  minds  of  some 
for  the  past  half  century,  that  Jonathan  Edwards 
was  tinctured  with  heresy.  The  thing  is  unthink- 
able to  any  but  Unitarians ;  it  is  as  if  one  were 
to  say  that  the  Pope  was  not  a  Catholic.  The 
most  malignant  of  these  disseminators  of  doubt 
was  Oliver  Wendell  Holmes,  who  has  since  gone 
to  his  own  place.  It  was  alleged  that  an  unpub- 
lished manuscript  existed  in  which  was  revealed 
the  true  relation  existing  between  the  various 


JONATHAN  EDWARDS  61 

Persons  in  the  Trinity,  a  matter  which  Edwards 
refused  to  disclose  in  his  published  writings. 
The  legends  which  grew  up  around  this  manu- 
script would  be  long  to  describe.  Some  pretended 
to  have  seen  it,  but  no  two  persons  could  agree  as 
to  what  they  had  seen,  or  recognize  the  thing 
when  they  saw  it  again.  Some  who  had  access 
to  the  writing  affirmed  that  it  was  in  two  parts, 
a  comparatively  simple  observation,  one  would 
think ;  others  held  that  it  was  divided  only  "  in 
fact  but  not  in  form  "  into  two  parts,  and  when 
put  to  the  question  they  could  only  make  the 
feeble  admission  that  on  second  view  they  "  recog- 
nized "  the  document  but  could  not  "  recall " 
what  they  had  read  of  it  on  previous  occasions. 
That  hesitancy  of  recollection  is  not  wonderful 
to  one  who  reads  the  manuscript  in  its  present 
published  form.  Whether  the  document  acquits 
Jonathan  Edwards  of  heterodoxy  or  not,  I  do  not 
pretend  to  say,  —  Professor  Fisher  thinks  it  does, 
and  one  is  willing  to  take  his  word  for  it,  —  but 
certainly  this  mysterious  manuscript  which  be- 
came so  singularly  involved  with  the  persons  of 
the  Trinity  still  "leaves  the  matter  in  a  state 
of  obscurity." 

The  situation  developed  by  Edwards  was  a  seri- 
ous one.   He  began  with  the  sovereignty  of  God 


62  ESSAYS  IN  PURITANISM 

and  the  sinfulness  of  man  ;  lie  showed  how  deserv- 
ing of  eternal  punishment  aU  mankind  was ;  he 
described  a  place  which  was  in  every  particular 
most  suitable  for  the  purpose ;  and  finally,  near 
the  end  of  his  life,  he  wrote  a  great  book  to  prove 
that  no  man  had  any  choice  as  to  where  he  should 
spend  his  eternity.  The  truth  of  the  matter  is  that 
the  argument  won  instant  favour,  because  it  dealt 
a  heavy  blow  at  the  Arminians,  who  held  the  will 
to  be  in  equilibrium,  and  it  assisted  men  like  Dr. 
Chalmers  "to  find  their  way  through  all  that 
might  have  proved  baffling  and  transcendental 
and  mysterious  in  the   peculiarities  of  Calvin- 


ism." 


For  the  moment  the  Arminians  were  staggered 
and  Edwards's  posture  of  defence  was  unassail- 
able ;  but  in  the  course  of  time  they  found  that 
the  ground  on  which  he  stood  was  unsafe,  because 
it  was  shifting.  His  definition  of  the  will  at  one 
moment  was  "  that  by  which  the  mind  chooses  any- 
thing ;  "  and  again,  "  that  by  which  the  mind  de- 
sires or  inclines  to  anything."  Between  "  choice  " 
and  "  inclination  "  a  great  gulf  is  fixed.  This  may 
be  a  mere  "  nibbling  "  at  his  argument ;  but  if 
Edwards  himseK  were  to  rise  from  the  dead,  he 
would  admit  that,  inasmuch  as  his  argument  is 
in  large  part  based  upon  a  purely  idiosyncratic 


JONATHAN  EDWARDS  63 

interpretation  of  Scripture,  it  must  come  to  the 
ground.  The  dictum  of  Saint  Paul  is  no  longer 
recognized  as  sufficient  foundation  for  the  airy- 
fabric  of  a  metaphysical  system ;  as  the  German 
theoloofian  observed,  "  I  have  read  what  Paulus 
says  on  the  subject  and  I  do  not  believe  him." 
We  are  content,  then,  to  leave  at  one  side  his 
ethical  and  metaphysical  speculations  as  being 
merely  of  literary  interest.  They  may  be  true; 
we  have  no  means  of  knowing ;  but  they  are  of 
no  further  interest  to  us. 

But  Jonathan  Edwards's  influence  in  the  sphere 
of  morality  is  of  supreme  interest  to  us  as  reveal- 
ing his  own  personality  and  the  nature  of  the 
people  who  came  under  its  sway.  It  is  as  a 
preacher  of  righteousness,  not  as  a  philosopher, 
that  he  appeals  to  us,  though  we  must  admit  that 
his  philosophical  reduction  of  transactions  to 
abstract  formulae  inevitably  gave  form  to  his 
doctrines  of  morality. 

In  American  literary  history  all  appreciation 
has  been  based  largely  upon  purely  "idiosyn- 
cratic grounds,"  as  Emerson  said  of  Margaret 
Fuller's  criticism  of  the  plaster  casts  in  the  Boston 
Athenaeum.  In  the  case  of  Jonathan  Edwards 
again  we  are  met  with  the  same  indiscriminating 
praise  and  blame.    Over  his  grave  one  may  read 


64  ESSAYS  IN  PURITANISM 

to  this  day  an  inscription  in  Latin,  it  is  true,  tes- 
tifying that  he  was  second  to  no  mortal  man.  Of 
course,  one  does  not  go  to  tombstones  in  search  of 
truth,  yet  the  view  there  established  is  in  keeping 
with  much  that  one  reads  elsewhere.  Another 
writer  says  that  since  the  time  of  Plato  there  has 
been  no  life  more  simple  and  imposing  in  grand- 
eur than  that  of  Jonathan  Edwards.  Robert  Hall 
regards  him  as  the  *'  greatest  of  the  sons  of 
men  ; "  another  eminent  divine  was  accustomed  to 
look  upon  him  as  belonging  to  some  superior  race 
of  beings ;  and  Chalmers,  with  his  peculiar  fecund- 
ity in  words,  writes  that  he  esteemed  Edwards 
as  the  "greatest  of  theologians,  combining  in  a 
degree  that  is  quite  unexampled,  the  profoundly 
intellectual  with  the  devoutly  spiritual  and  sacred, 
realizing  in  his  own  person  a  rare  harmony  be- 
tween the  simplicity  of  the  Christian  pastor  and 
the  strength  and  prowess  of  a  giant  in  philo- 
sophy." As  a  corrective  to  this  nonsense  we  may 
set  down  the  opinion,  which  is  also  probably 
nonsense  in  its  own  way,  of  President  Stiles  of 
Yale  College,  as  recorded  in  his  diary :  "  When 
posterity  occasionally  comes  across  Edwards's 
writings  in  the  rubbish  of  libraries,  the  rare 
characters,  who  may  read  and  be  pleased  with 
them,  will  be  looked  upon  as  singular  and  whim- 


JONATHAN  EDWARDS  65 

sical  as  in  these  days  are  admirers  of  Suarez, 
Aquinas,  or  Dionysius  the  Areopagite." 

This  prediction  of  President  Stiles  has  been 
fairly  well  verified.  The  philosophical  writings  of 
Jonathan  Edwards  have  long  since  gone  into  the 
rubbish  of  libraries,  along  with  much  other  philo- 
sophical rubbish,  it  may  be  added  ;  his  sermons 
merely  move  men  to  scorn  or  mirth.  Wherein, 
then,  consists  the  secret  of  the  power  which 
Edwards  exercised  and  does  still  exercise  ? 

He  had  a  great  and  a  good  nature ;  he  lived  a 
great  and  good  life ;  he  was  under  the  domination 
of  great  ideals,  and  his  life  was  entirely  detached 
from  the  things  of  this  world.  This  great  nature 
was  the  product  of  his  Celtic  inheritance,  made 
serious  by  his  more  immediate  Puritan  ancestry 
and  his  solemn  environment.  He  saw  things 
which  other  men  did  not  see,  therefore  he  was 
a  seer;  he  spoke  for  them,  and  was  a  prophet. 
He  aroused  them  from  habits  of  sloth  and  sensu- 
ality to  a  perception  of  serious  things.  True,  the 
means  he  employed  was  the  fear  of  hell,  yet  at 
times  fear  is  the  only  moral  agent  of  very  much 
value,  a  means  of  grace  of  which  this  generation 
unfortunately  is  deprived. 

One  thing  yet  remains  to  be  said  —  said  again. 
Though  Jonathan  Edwards  is  dead,  he  yet  speaks 


66  ESSAYS  IN  PURITANISM 

to  us,  and  the  message  comes  clearer  from  his  dis- 
ciples than  it  came  from  him.  His  son  expanded 
the  doctrine  of  the  efficacy  of  the  atonement,  and 
his  grandson,  Timothy  D wight,  by  his  preaching, 
turned  back  that  mingled  tide  of  atheism  and 
deism  which  proceeded  from  France  early  in  the 
last  century.  Nathaniel  Emmons  lived  for  ninety- 
five  years  and  was  engaged  in  actual  ministerial 
work  for  fifty-four  ;  he  trained  fifty-seven  pupils 
in  his  own  family,  and  through  them  propagated 
the  doctrine  of  disinterested  love  which  he  de- 
duced from  Edwards's  treatise  on  the  "  Nature  of 
Virtue."  How  he  did  it  we  do  not  know.  Samuel 
Hopkins  disseminated  the  same  views  upon  the 
obligation  to  love  ourselves  and  our  fellow  men, 
and  through  the  work  of  William  Ellery  Chan- 
ning  and  his  friends,  the  thing  grew  into  the  great 
humanitarian  movement  which,  beginning  in  New 
England,  spread  over  the  whole  nation  and  is  yet 
spreading. 

The  only  real  good  which  ever  comes  to  hu- 
manity is  that  which  arrives  by  way  of  the  emo- 
tions, and  emotions  arise  out  of  a  condition  of 
mind.  When  the  present  devices  of  philanthropy 
shall  have  had  their  day,  and  their  futility  shall 
have  been  demonstrated,  some  great  teacher  will 
rediscover  the  old  truth  that  salvation  lies  in  a 


JONATHAN  EDWARDS  67 

right  condition  of  mind  ;  he  will  awaken  the  peo- 
ple and  revive  in  them  those  emotions  which  are 
religious. 

The  old  name  for  a  revival  was  an  awakening, 
and  Jonathan  Edwards  awakened  the  people 
thoroughly.  Once  awake  they  could  be  trusted  to 
find  a  way  out  for  themselves.  The  path  they 
followed  has  not  been  precisely  the  one  which  was 
marked  out  for  them  by  the  great  divine,  but  it 
led  in  a  new  and  right  direction.  To  turn  the 
people  anew  and  aright  is  the  greatest  work  that 
any  man  can  accomplish,  and  it  is  for  this  supreme 
reason  that  the  name  of  Jonathan  Edwards  is 
held  in  remembrance. 


n 

JOHN  WINTHROP 


JOHN  WINTHROP 

In  dealing  with  the  personality  of  John  Win- 
throp,  let  it  be  understood  that  he  lived  at  a  time 
in  the  world's  history  when  men  had  convictions 
upon  subjects  in  regard  to  which  we  have  none, 
and  that  their  conduct  was  shaped  by  beliefs 
which  do  not  influence  us.  These  convictions  had 
to  do  chiefly  with  what  they  called  religion,  a  term 
which  we  shall  continue  to  employ  in  the  sense  in 
which  they  understood  it,  laying  aside  our  own 
preconceptions  or  conclusions  as  to  what  religion 
really  is. 

We,  in  these  days,  have  the  instinct  for  doing 
right,  or,  as  Jonathan  Edwards  defined  it,  "a 
rectitude,  a  fitness  of  benevolence  to  the  soul  and 
the  nature  of  things ;  "  we  have  the  dislike  for  do- 
ing wrong  even  more  highly  than  our  fathers  had, 
but  in  matters  of  religion  we  do  not  possess  any- 
thing more  than  what  that  great  divine  described 
as  "  mere  notional  knowledge."  The  atmosphere 
in  which  we  live  is  so  free,  the  field  is  so  wide  and 
open,  that  we  wander  whither  we  will,  with  no 
outside  force  to  drive  us  into  this  corner  or  into 


72  ESSAYS  IN  PURITANISM 

that.  We  know  how  hard  it  is  to  prove  a  thing, 
and  that  after  all  our  conclusions  may  be  wrong. 
Why  then  should  we  suffer  or  make  others  suffer 
for  a  conclusion  which  at  best  has  only  some  de- 
gree of  probability  in  its  favour  ? 

Before  notional  knowledge  can  bear  much  fruit 
it  must  be  vivified  by  emotion.  A  man  may  hold 
the  belief  in  a  general  way  that  the  celebration  of 
the  Mass  is,  or  is  not,  an  idolatrous  performance, 
and  according  to  his  custom  he  may  abstain  from, 
or  assist  at,  its  celebration.  If  by  compulsion  his 
habitual  practice  is  interfered  with,  then  his  re- 
ligious emotion  is  aroused,  and  a  whole  continent 
is  aflame.  That  is  the  story  of  every  religious 
war.  The  passion  for  religion  is  dormant  in  us. 
Nothing  has  occurred  this  century  past  to  arouse 
it ;  but  it  stirs  uneasily  at  times,  and  only  requires 
some  rude  shock  to  awaken  it  to  full  fury.  It  is 
not  dead  but  sleeping. 

No  task  to  which  the  historian  can  set  his  hand 
is  so  difficult  as  the  correct  estimate  of  a  situ- 
ation which  has  become  involved  in  religious 
controversy,  because  in  it  the  factors  are  so 
numerous,  and  the  things  which  are  low  and  the 
things  which  are  high  are  so  subtly  mixed.  The 
task  has  in  itself  all  the  difficulties  inherent  in 
the  attempt  to  ascertain  the   truth   about   any 


JOHN  WINTHROP  73 

event,  whether  occurring  in  times  present,  or  in 
times  past,  and  to  it  is  added  the  problem  of  deal- 
ing with  truth  and  falsehood   uttered  in  passion. 

"Truest  poetry  is  most  feigning"  —  we  have 
the  authority  of  the  greatest  of  poets  for  that ; 
and  the  same  observation  is  largely  true  of  that 
form  of  writing  which  is  called  historical.  Indeed, 
most  history  is  most  lying,  and  the  mean  between 
two  lies  is  not  always  the  truth.  The  makers  of 
historical  novels  have  reduced  history  writing  to 
its  legitimate  conclusion. 

This  difficulty  of  arriving  at  the  truth  of 
matters  which  have  happened  in  times  past  has 
long  been  a  favourite  subject  of  reflection,  even 
for  historians  themselves,  but  they  have  not  gone 
to  the  length  of  admitting  the  impossibility  of  the 
task.  What,  after  all,  is  historical  truth  ?  There 
is,  of  course,  something  like  it,  something  that 
does  duty  in  its  stead ;  and  the  most  that  can  be 
claimed  is  that  the  thing  is  a  theory  of  history,  as 
theology  is  a  theory  of  God. 

The  fact  of  the  matter  is  that  the  truth  about 
things  past  cannot  be  ascertained.  No  two  persons 
will  agree  about  the  occurrence  of  an  incident  in 
a  football  match  ;  how  then  can  more  than  two 
persons  agree  about  the  series  of  events  which  is 
called  a  battle,  or  the  sequence  of  events  which 


74  ESSAYS  IN  PURITANISM 

is  called  war  ?  No  person  can  tell  the  whole  truth 
about  anything  ;  if  two  persons  be  employed  upon 
the  task,  the  chance  of  arriving  at  the  truth  is 
exactly  halved.  If  historians  are  incapable  of 
ascertaining  the  truth  about  the  things  which  they 
have  seen,  how  shall  they  tell  us  anything  reliable 
about  the  things  that  interested  past  generations 
of  men  ?  If  the  physician  has  some  difficulty  in 
arriving  at  the  diagnosis  of  a  case  when  the 
patient  is  alive,  what  chance  is  there,  even  with 
the  assistance  of  a  pathologist,  that  his  judgement 
will  be  correct  after  their  material  has  fallen 
into  dust?  All  written  history  then  is  merely 
a  probable  or  plausible  explanation  of  what 
occurred.  Instead  of  the  historian  revealing  the 
past,  his  history  only  reveals  the  man  who  has 
written  it,  his  race,  nationality,  politics,  religion, 
temperament,  and  character.  An  historian  is 
counted  great  in  so  far  as  he  can  make  the  past 
to  live ;  but  if  he  can  make  it  live  he  can  also  make 
it  lie.  Historians  are  dramatists.  They  choose 
their  characters.  They  decide  beforehand  upon 
the  effect  they  intend  to  produce  and  adjust  their 
narrative  accordingly;  "for,"  as  Montaigne 
observed,  "  since  the  judgement  leans  to  one  side, 
they  cannot  keep  from  turning  and  twisting  the 
narrative  according  to  that  bias." 


JOHN  WINTHROP  75 

A  new  way  to  approach  history  is  by  the  mathc' 
matical  method.  A  mathematician  cares  nothing 
for  truth ;  he  cares  only  for  the  relation  of  the 
factors  whose  value  he  does  know,  or  for  the  re- 
sults that  will  come  from  certain  assumptions 
which  he  has  made ;  and,  if  a  mathematically 
minded  person  were  to  apply  himself  to  history, 
he  would  see  at  a  glance  that  in  dealing  with 
historical  events  he  should  have  to  employ  the 
method  of  assumption.  He  would  devise  some 
symbol  to  represent  the  truth  of  the  case,  which 
he  would  probably  designate  by  the  letter  T ;  he 
would  let  t  equal  the  time  elapsed  since  the  al- 
leged occurrence  of  the  incident,  and  n  the  num- 
ber of  narrators,  h  the  coefficient  depending  upon 
circumstances,  and  m  a  function  varying  directly 
with  the  narrator's  motive  for  lying.  Out  of 
these  elements,  if  that  be  the  proper  term  to 
employ,  an  ingenious  historian  might  construct 
a  tentative  formula  for  the  solution  of  historical 
problems. 

The  value  which  should  be  assigned  to  these 
various  factors  would  have  to  be  determined  by 
what  the  mathematicians  call  "investigation." 
The  factor  ^,  which  is  the  coefficient  of  circum- 
stance, would  prove  to  be  the  most  indefinite 
element ;  but  one  might  begin  by  assigning  to  it 


76  ESSAYS   IN  PURITANISM 

a  certain  range  of  value,  as  between  .01  for  Froude, 
to  take  an  example,  and  .001  for  Cotton  Mather. 
The  range  between  what  is  considered  reliability 
and  open  mendacity  would,  however,  not  be  very 
great  in  any  case.  Enough  has  been  said  to  indi- 
cate the  method,  as  the  mathematicians  them- 
selves say,  and  it  is  put  forward  in  all  modesty 
as  a  basis  for  a  new  essay  in  history.  Whatever 
be  the  ultimate  result  of  the  plan,  it  will  prove 
a  fascinating  exercise,  assigning  a  value  to  these 
coefficients  in  the  case  of  the  various  representa- 
tions of  past  events.  One  who  was  well  acquainted 
with  Guizot  said  of  him  that  the  thing  which  he 
knew  only  since  morning  he  pretended  to  have 
known  from  all  eternity ;  and  another,  who  dis- 
liked Voltaire,  affirmed  that  his  method  was  to 
collect  everything  he  knew  to  be  false  and  write 
it  down  as  history.  Obviously  the  value  of  the 
coefficients  as  applied  to  these  two  writers  would 
not  vary  widely. 

One  of  the  most  historically  fascinating  pro- 
blems which  has  been  presented  to  the  human 
mind  is  that  which  goes  by  the  name  of  Puri- 
tanism. The  record  of  the  series  of  events  which 
culminated  in  that  phenomenon  is  open  to  every 
enquirer ;  and  yet,  even  from  an  identical  narra- 
tion, two  persons  will  come  to  an  exactly  opposite 


JOHN  WINTHROP  77 

conclusion  in  respect  of  the  essential  nature  of  the 
thing.  To  the  one  it  will  appear  as  a  "  panther," 
and  its  opposant  a  "  milk-white  hind,  immortal 
and  unchanged  ;  "  and  we  all  know  the  hard  things 
which  the  New  England  divines  were  in  the  habit 
of  saying  about  "  the  black  sons  of  the  scarlet 
woman,"  and  of  "  the  harlot  who  had  her  seat  on 
the  seven  hills  of  Rome."  Probably  in  both  cases 
the  factor  which  I  have  called  a  function  varying 
directly  with  the  incentive  for  lying,  has  an  identi- 
cal value,  and  that  a  very  large  one. 

If  I  were  so  far  left  to  myself  as  to  meddle 
with  the  matter  of  Puritanism  at  large,  I  should 
proceed  according  to  the  method  outlined,  tak- 
ing into  account  the  time  elapsed,  the  number 
of  narrators,  the  variations  in  their  narratives, 
the  value  of  the  coefficient  depending  upon  the 
circumstances  under  which  the  accounts  were 
written,  making  a  particular  estimate  of  that 
function  which  is  concerned  with  the  motive  for 
lying,  and  I  should  endeavour  to  reduce  this 
final  equivalent  to  zero  in  the  case  under  sup- 
position. The  present  intention,  however,  is 
merely  to  consider  the  personality  of  one  wit- 
ness,—  John  Winthrop,  —  and  to  endeavour  to 
ascertain  the  value  of  his  evidence,  as  expressed 
in  his  work,  by  establishing  his  character. 


78  ESSAYS  IN   PURITANISM 

If  we  knew  the  heart  of  John  Huss,  John  Cal- 
vin, John  Knox,  Oliver  Cromwell  and  his  great 
companions,  as  we  know  the  heart  of  John  Win- 
throp,  we  should  be  down  among  the  roots  of 
Puritanism.  Knowing  the  heart  of  John  Win- 
throp,  we  know  the  essential  nature  of  the  New 
England  emigration,  how  it  came  about,  and 
what  it  meant  to  the  world.  His  life  is  open 
before  us  in  his  letters  and  journals,  and  with 
a  singular  candour  of  spirit  they  give  the  fullest 
expression  to  his  most  secret  thought.  We  may 
read  in  them  of  his  self-consuming  love,  the  bit- 
terness of  his  grief  and  his  overwhelming  sorrow. 
We  have  a  faithful  account  of  the  process  by 
which  he  was  led  up  to  the  greatest  sacrifice 
which  a  man  can  make,  of  wife,  home,  family, 
and  tradition.  We  may  also  read  that  he  sent 
men  away  from  his  judgement  seat  to  be  whipped, 
because  they  held  opinions  contrary  to  his  own. 
Surely  then  it  is  worth  while  reducing  to  small 
compass  the  presentment  such  a  man  makes  of 
himself,  doing  it  faithfully,  and  continually  test- 
ing it  by  the  abundant  collateral  information  of 
contemporary  events  which  is  accessible  to  us. 

John  Winthrop  was  born  in  1588,  the  year  in 
which  the  Armada  was  defeated ;  and  the  gen- 
eration which  had  witnessed  that  defeat  also  wit- 


JOHN  WINTHROP  79 

nessed  the  forces  for  which  the  Armada  stood, 
entrenched  behind  the  throne  of  England.  The 
descendants  of  those  stout  sailors  were  resolute 
that  they  would  not  endure  the  thing,  but  they 
differed  in  their  method.  To  Cromwell  and  his 
friends  it  seemed  the  most  natural  thing  in  the 
world  that  they  should  take  a  sword  in  their 
hands.  To  others  the  readiest  way  was  to  depart 
over  seas  and  make  a  new  experiment  in  freedom. 
John  Winthrop  was  the  leader  and  inspirer  of 
those  who  adhered  to  the  latter  view. 

The  first  fact  to  establish  in  estimating  a  per- 
sonality is  the  environment  of  the  man  ;  his  class, 
and  hence  the  habitual  bent  of  his  mind;  his 
family  and  friends;  in  short,  his  outlook  upon 
the  world.  In  the  letters  of  John  Winthrop, 
published  in  1864  by  Robert  Charles  Winthrop, 
fifth  in  descent  from  himself,  we  find  as  frontis- 
piece a  reproduction  of  a  portrait  of  the  First 
Governor,  "  by  Vandyke,"  and  another  in  the 
body  of  the  book,  "  by  Holbein,"  depicting  his 
grandfather,  Adam  Winthrop  the  second.  This 
portrait  of  Governor  Winthrop  is  still  to  be  seen 
in  the  old  Senate  Chamber  in  the  State  House  in 
Boston,  now  used  as  a  reception  room.  It  cer- 
tainly adorned  the  austere  walls  of  the  Govern- 
or's New  England  home,  and  was  given  to  the 


80  ESSAYS  IN  PURITANISM 

"  town  house "  by  his  eldest  son.    There  is,  of 
course,  no  historical  evidence  that  the  portrait 
was  painted  by  Van  Dyck,  but  certainly  it  does 
possess  many  of  the  characteristics  of  that  mas- 
ter, —  a  fine  sense  of  proportion,  an  elegance  of 
outline,  and  that  precious  blending  of  the  figure 
with  the  background  in  light,  shade,  and  colour. 
The  picture  by  Holbein  is  in  possession  of  the 
widow  of  the  Robert  Winthrop  before  mentioned, 
and  rests  on  the  walls  of  her  house  in  New  York, 
38  East  Thirty-Seventh  Street.    Of  the  authen- 
ticity of  this  picture  there  seems  to  be  no  doubt, 
even   from  an    examination   of    the   engraving, 
which  is  done  on  copper  in  line  and  stipple.   If 
the  portraits  are  authentic,  it  is  significant  of  the 
position  of   the  Winthrop  family  in  the  social 
order  of  England,  though  there  is  independent 
evidence  of  that.  From  a  note  upon  the  subject 
of  these  portraits,  by  R.  C.  Winthrop,  Jr.,  one 
would  gain    the   impression   that   he  was  read- 
ing a  letter  by  the  hand  of  the  first  Governor, 
on    account   of    the   singular   similarity   of   the 
writing. 

To  this  day  we  may  read  in  the  register  of  the 
parish  church  of  Groton  an  entry  recording  the 
death  of  that  Adam  in  1562,  and  one  may  still 
look  upon  his  tomb  graven  with  the  family's  name 


JOHN  WINTHROP  81 

and  arms.  The  family  mansion,  which  adjoined 
the  church,  has  long  since  disappeared,  but  the 
garden  plot  is  still  marked  by  the  traditional 
mulberry-tree,  which  reminds  one  of  Professor 
Masson's  acute  observation,  recorded  in  his  ""  Life 
of  Milton,"  that  great  men,  wherever  they  go, 
invariably  plant  mulberry-trees. 

All  this  is  more  interesting  to  the  descendants 
of  the  Winthrops  than  it  is  to  us,  but  even  to  us 
it  is  significant  of  the  position  which  the  First 
Governor  occupied  in  the  world.  His  father  kept 
a  diary  and  almanac,  from  which  we  can  recon- 
struct the  family  life  in  its  smallest  detail,  even 
to  the  hanging  of  the  "  great  mastiffe,  a  gentle 
dog  in  the  howse,  but  eyes  oft  blind."  Winthrop's 
mother  wrote  charming  and  scholarly  letters  to 
her  husband;  curiously  enough,  one  which  remains 
is  written  in  French,  and  deals  with  the  forward- 
ing of  a  French  bible.  The  family  life  was  nobly 
lived. 

John  Winthrop's  youth  was  passed  in  the  man- 
ner proper  to  the  son  of  an  English  gentleman  of 
those  days.  He  went  to  Cambridge,  and  upon  his 
return  he  took  up  the  duties  and  obligations  of 
his  station  in  life.  Long  years  afterwards,  in  the 
New  England  fastness,  he  wrote  an  account  of  his 
Christian  experience,  but  we  must  not  lay  any 


82  ESSAYS  IN  PURITANISM 

stress  upon  his  confession,  that  in  his  youth  "  he 
was  very  lewdly  disposed,  inclining  unto  all  kinds 
o£  wickedness,  such  as  writing  letters  of  mere 
vanity."  He  protests,  however,  that  he  never 
attained  to  the  length  of  "  swearing  and  scorning 
religion."  All  great  and  religious  men  have  fallen 
into  this  habit  of  self-accusation,  and  if  we  be- 
lieved what  the  Apostle  Paul  and  John  Bunyan 
tell  us  of  their  early  lives,  we  should  say  that  they 
were  well  worthy  of  the  galleys  and  the  gaol. 

There  is  a  profound  psychological  reason  for 
this  self-accusation,  on  the  part  of  the  great  relig- 
ious men  of  New  England  especially,  and  some 
persons  may  endure  reading  it,  if  it  be  set  down 
shortly.   Up  to  the  time  of  Jonathan  Edwards, 
admission  to  the  Sacrament  of  the  Lord's  Supper 
was  more  or  less  a  social  and  political  test,  an 
acknowledgement  on  the  part  of  the  authorities 
that  the  communicants  were  free  from  the  more 
open  forms  of  vice  and  from  opinions  hostile  to 
the  welfare  of  the  community.    If  a  man  commit- 
ted adultery,  or  refused  to  pay  his  taxes,  or  spoke 
slightingly  of  the  ministers  or  magistrates,  the 
table  was  "fenced"  against  him,  as  we  used  to 
say.   If  he  observed  the  ordinary  usages  of  the 
society  in  which  he  lived,  and  kept  his  mouth 
shut,  no  questions  were  asked.    The  Sacrament 


JOHN  WINTHROP  83 

then  was  a  means  of  grace,  a  converting  ordinance, 
out  of  which  some  good  might  come.  Edwards's 
own  ofrandfather,  the  venerated  Stoddard,  adhered 
to  this  view,  which  was  the  one  openly  recognized 
in  all  the  New  England  churches. 

But  from  the  beginning  there  was  a  secret  dis- 
sent from  this  practice,  and  many  of  the  best  men 
felt  in  their  hearts  that  coming  forward  to  the 
table  was  an  open  sign  that  the  communicant  had 
attained  to  a  newness  of  life,  to  a  submission  of 
his  will  to  the  will  of  God,  and  a  union  of  his 
spirit  with  the  spirit  of  God  ;  that,  in  short,  it  was 
an  affirmation  of  his  justification,  a  proclaiming  to 
the  world  that  he  had  undergone  that  mysterious 
change  commonly  called  conversion.  Edwards's 
own  mother  declined  to  come  forward  for  ten 
years  after  her  marriage,  until  she  had  attained 
to  a  full  assurance  of  the  completeness  of  that 
change.  As  Edwards's  ministry  grew,  he  gave 
entire  assent  to  this  awful  significance  of  the 
Communion,  that  men  and  women  who  took  the 
mysterious  elements  in  their  hands  and  partook  of 
them  unworthily  did  but  eat  and  drink  damnation 
to  themselves.  It  was  upon  this  vital  question  that 
the  great  preacher  was  banished  from  Northamp- 
ton still  farther  into  the  wilderness.  In  order, 
then,  to  signify  to  themselves  the  completeness  of 


84  ESSAYS  IN  PURITANISM 

their  conversion,  and  if  possible  its  instantaneous- 
ness,  these  good  men  were  fond  of  dwelling  upon 
their  early  iniquity,  in  proof  of  their  present  justi- 
fication. If  sin  did  not  exist,  they  were  obliged  to 
create  it,  and  that  is  the  source  of  most  religious 
confessions  from  the  time  of  Saint  Paul  to  last 
night's  experience  meeting. 

It  would  be  the  business  of  a  great  writer  and 
the  subject  of  a  great  book  to  trace  the  develop- 
ment of  John  Winthrop's  nature,  as  it  grew  from 
strength  to  strength,  to  follow  its  course  until 
at  length  a  great  light  dawned  upon  him,  and  he 
saw  in  all  its  hideousness  and  nakedness  the 
stupidity  and  wickedness  and  sorrow  in  which  his 
country  lay.  The  moment  of  that  perception  is 
the  starting  point  of  all  movements  towards  good. 
In  a  complete  record  of  Winthrop's  life  we  should 
also  find  expression  of  his  love  and  tenderness  and 
bitter  sorrow  over  his  own  ;  pity  and  concern  for 
his  neighbours ;  industry  and  energy  in  the  dis- 
charge of  his  public  duty ;  indignation  and  wrath 
against  those  who  were  working  public  evil. 

At  length  the  time  came  when  he  was  willing 
to  forsake  all  and  pursue  into  the  wilderness  the 
chimera  of  perfection.  He  drew  up  his  reasons 
for  it,  which  were  :  to  carry  the  gospel ;  "  to  pro- 
vide tabernacles  and  food  as  a  refuge  for  the 


JOHN  WINTHROP  85 

church  against  the  time  she  must  fly,"  and  for  his 
fellow  men,  "  the  most  precious  of  all  creatures, 
who  were  become  of  less  price  than  a  horse  or  a 
sheep."  He  saw  *'  a  whole  continent  lying  waste, 
whilst  it  was  impossible  for  a  good  and  upright 
man  to  maintain  his  charge  at  home ;  fountains 
of  learning  were  polluted,"  —  in  short,  the  time 
had  come. 

There  was  a  great  correspondence  and  a  furious 
running  to  and  fro,  as  when  a  company  of  bees 
decides  to  swarm.  In  a  letter  to  his  "  verye  lov- 
inge  wife,"  dated  October  20,  1629,  Winthrop 
writes  :  "  So  it  is  that  it  hath  pleased  the  Lorde 
to  call  me  to  a  further  trust  in  this  business  of 
the  Plantation  (being  chosen  by  the  Company  to 
be  their  Governor).  The  only  thinge  that  I  have 
comfort  in,  it  is  that  hereby  I  have  assurance 
that  the  Lorde  hath  called  me  to  this  work." 

Governor  Winthrop's  record  of  his  voyage  to 
New  England  in  the  Arabella  has  the  freshness 
of  narration  which  one  observes  in  the  account  of 
the  casting  away  of  that  Alexandrine  ship  in 
which  Saint  Paul  sailed  to  Italy.  Thus :  "  We 
tacked  again  and  stood  W.,  but  about  noon  the 
wind  came  in  full  W.  a  very  strong  gale,  so  we 
tacked  again  and  stood  N.  and  by  E. ;  at  night 
we  took  off  the  main  course,  and  took  in  all  our 


86  ESSAYS  IN  PURITANISM 

sails  save  only  the  main  and  mizzen.  The  storm 
continued  all  the  next  day,  the  wind  as  it  was  and 
rainy.  In  the  forenoon  we  carried  our  forecourse 
and  stood  WSW.,  but  in  the  afternoon  we  took 
it  in,  the  wind  increasing  and  the  sea  grown  very 
high,  so  lying  with  the  helm  aweather  we  made 
no  way  but  as  the  ship  drove."  This  was  evi- 
dently Winthrop's  first  adventure  upon  the  sea,  ^ 
for  he  takes  note  of  everything;  how  a  tub  in 
which  some  fish  were  salting  was  overturned,  how 
a  swallow,  a  wild  pigeon,  and  another  small  land 
bird  perched  in  the  rigging.  He  also  observed 
the  decreasing  declination  of  the  pole-star,  the 
apparent  smallness  of  the  moon,  and  the  contin- 
ued coldness  of  the  weather,  no  matter  from  which 
quarter  the  wind  blew. 

A  good  discipline  was  observed  on  board  the 
Arabella ;  that  was  the  Governor's  way.  On  the 
third  day  out,  whilst  a  fast  was  being  observed, 
two  of  the  landsmen  pierced  a  rundlet  of  strong 
waters  ;  for  this  they  were  laid  in  bolts  the  whole 
night  through ;  in  the  morning  the  principal  of- 
fender was  openly  whipped,  and  both  were  kept 
upon  bread  and  water  for  the  day.  Shortly  after- 
wards two  young  men  fell  at  odds  and  the  quarrel 
ended  in  a  fight.  This,  it  appears,  was  contrary 
to  orders,  which  had  been  duly  published,  and  the 


JOHN  WINTHROP  87 

passionate  fellows  were  adjudged  to  walk  upon  the 
deck  till  night  with  their  hands  tied  behind  their 
backs.  Another  young  man,  for  using  contempt- 
uous speech  in  presence  of  the  notable  persons 
on  board,  was  also  laid  in  bolts  till  he  submitted 
himself  and  presented  open  contrition  for  his 
offence.  The  passengers  must  have  been  persons 
of  some  consideration ;  most  of  them  were  accom- 
panied by  servants;  some  bore  titles  ;  and  the  daily 
life  was  conducted  with  a  degree  of  grandeur. 

The  discipline  was  impartial.  Complaint  was 
made  to  the  captain  that  one  of  his  under-officers 
had  done  grave  injury  to  a  landsman,  whereupon 
he  was  ordered  to  be  tied  by  the  hands  with  a 
weight  about  his  neck ;  but  at  the  strong  inter- 
cession of  Winthrop  the  punishment  was  recalled  ; 
that  was  also  Winthrop' s  gentle  way.  A  much 
more  intricate  case  had  to  be  adjudged.  It  ap- 
pears that  a  servant  of  one  of  the  Company  had 
sold  to  a  child  a  box  which  was  said  to  be  worth 
threepence,  and  made  the  excellent  arrangement 
that  he  should  receive  in  lieu  of  a  money  payment 
one  biscuit  a  day  whilst  the  voyage  lasted.  This 
thrifty  trader  then  sold  the  biscuits  to  his  fellow 
servants ;  but  when  he  had  obtained  about  forty 
biscuits,  his  sharp  practice  came  to  light,  and  he 
was  sentenced  to  have  his  hands  tied  to  a  bar. 


88  ESSAYS  IN  PURITANISM 

a  basket  of  stones  was  suspended  about  his  neck, 
and  there  he  stood  for  two  hours.  That  is  the 
earliest  record  of  trade  methods  in  the  annals  of 
the  United  States. 

The  voyage  of  the  Arabella  was  not  free  from 
the  miseries  attendant  upon  sea  travel  in  those 
days,  arising  from  want  of  room,  sameness,  if  not 
actual  scantiness,  of  food,  and  sea-sickness.  Com- 
plaint was  made  by  the  captain  "  that  the  landsmen 
were  very  nasty  and  slovenly,  and  that  the  gun- 
deck  where  they  lodged  was  so  noisome  with  their 
victuals  and  beastliness  that  the  health  of  the 
ship  was  endangered."  The  Governor  "after 
prayer  "  dealt  with  this  also  in  his  resolute  way. 

The  remedy  for  the  disorder  of  sea- sickness 
then,  as  now,  was  indulgence  in  alcohol,  and  one 
maidservant  went  so  far  with  that  prophylactic 
measure  as  to  become  senseless.  The  Governor 
observed,  as  many  another  transatlantic  traveller 
has  done  since,  that  it  was  a  common  fault 
amongst  grown  people  at  sea  to  give  themselves 
to  drink  hot  waters  very  immoderately.  At  the 
end  of  a  fortnight,  many  children,  and  adults  too, 
lay  groaning  in  the  cabins ;  they  were  driven  out 
and  were  made  to  stand,  some  on  each  side  of 
a  rope,  which  they  swung  up  and  down  till  they 
were  merry  again  —  a  pretty  device  against  the 


JOHN  WINTHROP  89 

malady.  Other  trivial  exercises  followed,  in  which 
Winthrop  noticed  the  usual  tendency  on  the  part 
of  sailors  to  play  the  wag  with  the  passengers. 

In  those  days  a  ship  was  a  little  world ;  children 
were  born  and  people  died ;  the  observances  of 
religion  were  attended  to,  and  the  voyage  was 
arranged  as  if  it  were  never  to  end.  Even  on  the 
high  seas  small  boats  were  continually  passing 
from  ship  to  ship,  to  convey  and  accept  invitations 
to  dinner,  to  procure  the  services  of  a  midwife,  to 
borrow  fresh  water  or  hooks  for  catching  codfish. 
One  visitor  at  breakfast  on  board  the  Arabella 
was  Captain  Burleigh,  "  a  grave  comely  gentleman 
of  great  age,  who  offered  much  courtesy  and  re- 
ceived a  salute  of  four  shots  out  of  the  forecastle 
for  a  farewell."  He  had  been  an  old  sea-captain 
in  Elizabeth's  time,  and  being  taken  prisoner,  was 
kept  in  a  Spanish  dungeon  for  three  years,  but  he 
and  his  three  sons  were  afterwards  captains  in 
Roe's  voyage.  Another  visitor  encountered  upon 
the  sea  was  Sir  David  Kirke,  whose  adventures  in 
Canada  and  Newfoundland  entitle  him  to  a  place 
amongst  the  English  seamen  of  the  sixteenth 
century. 

The  voyage  of  the  Arabella  was  not  without  its 
spice  of  danger.  It  was  threatened  by  what  was 
thought  to  be  ten  sail  of  Dunkirkers,  and  every 


90  ESSAYS  IN  PURITANISM 

precaution  was  taken  to  meet  them  resolutely. 
The  officers  took  down  some  cabins  which  were  in 
the  way  of  the  ordnance,  they  threw  overboard 
everything  which  was  subject  to  taking  fire,  hove 
out  the  long-boats,  put  up  the  waist-cloths,  and 
served  out  arms  and  ammunition.  Finally,  when 
the  women  had  been  sent  below  into  a  place  of 
safety,  and  all  arrangements  completed,  Winthrop 
and  his  company  went  to  prayer  upon  the  upper 
deck,  putting  their  trust  in  the  Lord  of  Hosts  and 
"  the  courage  of  their  Captain,"  as  the  recorder 
was  prudent  enough  to  observe.  The  danger 
from  the  elements,  however,  was  a  real  one,  and 
the  whole  account  of  the  voyage  is  one  dismal 
record  of  "  stiff  gales  and  stormy  boisterous  nights, 
in  which  the  sea  raged  and  tossed  exceedingly." 
The  voyage  lasted  from  Easter  Monday,  the  29th 
of  March,  to  the  12th  of  June,  —  75  days.  After 
sighting  Cape  Sable  and  skirting  the  Maine  coast, 
the  adventurers  finally  cast  anchor  inside  Baker's 
Island,  and  at  two  o'clock  John  Endicott,  Gov- 
ernor of  Salem,  came  on  board,  all  with  due  firing 
of  cannon,  for  the  thing  was  done  in  proper  fashion. 
Governor  Winthrop  had  begun  his  work. 
Within  forty  days  he  had  opened  his  court  and 
assisted  at  the  ordination  of  a  minister,  elders  and 
deacons,  and  sent  a  man  to  prison  for  injuries 


JOHN  WINTHROP  91 

offered  to  the  Indians.  Next  he  attacked  social 
problems,  and  by  example  and  precept  restrained 
the  intemperate  use  of  drink. 

Death,  too,  was  busy.  The  Lady  Arabella  of 
the  house  of  Lincoln  died  within  a  few  days  of  her 
arrival  in  the  country,  and  her  husband  a  month 
later.  The  people  lay  in  tents  and  contracted 
scurvy,  of  which  many  died,  and  for  the  first  few 
years  we  read  continually  that  scores  died  on  the 
passage  out.  Men  were  drowned  by  the  upsetting 
of  canoes,  by  falling  through  the  ice,  or  were  cast 
away  on  the  ledges  and  shoals  that  skirted  the 
coast.  They  were  lost  and  frozen  in  the  woods  and 
marshes,  and  sometimes  were  succoured  and  some- 
times murdered  by  the  Indians.  The  Governor 
himseK  passed  a  night  in  the  woods,  but,  "  what 
with  gathering  wood,  what  with  walking  to  and 
fro  by  the  fire  singing  psalms,"  he  wore  away  the 
time. 

Within  twenty  days  of  landing  the  Governor 
makes  this  entry  in  his  journal :  "  My  son,  Henry 
Winthrop,  was  drowned  at  Salem."  That  is  all, 
and  there  it  stands  in  its  reticence  and  austerity. 
Henry  Winthrop  was  not  a  helpful  son.  He  had 
ventured  to  the  Barbadoes  as  a  planter,  and  there 
he  received  such  a  letter  from  his  father  as  many 
another  wandering  son  has  deserved.    Amongst 


92  ESSAYS  IN   PURITANISM 

other  things,  he  was  told  that  the  tobacco  he  had 
sent  home  was  "  ill-conditioned,  foul,  full  of  stalks, 
and  evil-coloured."    But  now  the  boy  was  dead. 

The  father  did  not  wince ;  he  had  already  looked 
death  in  the  face :  "  On  Thursday  in  the  night 
she  was  taken  with  death,  and  about  midnight 
called  for  me.  When  I  came  to  her  she  seemed 
to  be  assured  that  her  time  was  come  and  to  be 
glad  of  it.  In  the  mean  time  she  desired  that  the 
passing  bell  might  ring,  and  when  the  bell  began 
to  toll,  some  said  it  was  the  four  o'clock  bell, 
but  she,  conceiving  that  they  sought  to  conceal 
that  it  did  ring  for  her,  said  there  was  no  need 
as  she  heeded  it  not  and  it  did  not  trouble  her. 
At  noon,  when  most  of  the  company  were  gone 
down  to  dinner,  I  discoursed  with  her  of  the 
sweet  love  of  Christ,  and  she  showed  by  her 
speeches  and  gestures  her  great  joy  and  steadfast 
assurance.  When  I  told  her  that  she  should  soon 
see  her  Kedeemer  with  those  poor  dim  eyes,  she 
answered  cheerfully ;  when  I  told  her  that  the 
day  before  was  twelve  months  she  was  married 
to  me,  I  perceived  she  did  mistake  me.  While 
I  spake  to  her  she  would  lie  still  and  fix  her  eyes 
steadfastly  upon  me,  and  if  I  ceased  a  while,  her 
speech  being  gone,  she  would  turn  her  head  to- 
wards me  and  stir  her  hands  as  well  as  she  could. 


JOHN  WINTHROP  93 

till  I  spake,  and  then  would  lie  still  again."  The 
Wednesday  following  she  was  buried  in  Groton 
chancel,  "  and  her  child  was  laid  with  her." 

We  can  form  no  estimate  of  what  Winthrop 
did,  unless  we  are  clear  about  what  he  aimed  to 
do.  His  object  was  to  set  apart  a  body  of  men 
who  entertained  identical  views  as  to  their  rela- 
tion, purpose,  and  place  in  the  eternal  order  of 
things,  and  desired  to  subsist  by  the  exercise  of 
their  faculties,  unhampered  by  influences  which 
lay  beyond  themselves.  Winthrop  did  not  formu- 
late his  purpose  in  these  large  words ;  probably 
he  thought  it  would  be  best  expressed  by  the 
term  "  trading  church." 

To  attempt  such  an  enterprise  was  quite  legiti- 
mate and  proper.  Other  colonies  had  been  estab- 
lished in  the  New  World  with  as  definite  an 
object  in  view.  Virginia  owed  its  existence  to 
the  taste  for  tobacco,  which  European  men  had 
acquired.  Pennsylvania  was  settled  by  men  who 
believed  that  trade  could  be  carried  on  with  kind- 
liness. Rhode  Island  was  a  purely  commercial 
enterprise  without  much  concern  about  religion 
or  charity.  New  Netherland  was  a  single  colony 
seated  on  Manhattan  Island,  and  it  was  most 
concerned  about  rum  and  slaves.  Albany  was 
a  centre  for  the  fur  trade,  anxious  chiefly  to  keep 


94  ESSAYS   IN   PURITANISM 

on  srood  terms  with  the  Indians.  Even  in  Massa- 
chusetts  there  were  numerous  colonies,  each  ani- 
mated by  its  own  guiding  principle.  The  pil- 
grims who  settled  in  Plymouth,  for  example, 
desired  in  reality  the  opportunity  of  worshipping 
God  in  their  own  way.  They  were  reasonably 
willing  that  others  should  exercise  the  same 
privilege  and  yet  remain  within  the  community. 
The  people  of  Boston  entertained  a  different 
view. 

There  are  colonies,  nearly  as  old  as  Winthrop's, 
which  exist  to  this  day,  and  are  yet  admirably  ful- 
filling the  purpose  for  which  they  were  founded, 
trading,  paying  dividends,  and  guarding  their 
rights  to  an  exclusive  commerce.  The  Hudson's 
Bay  Company  has  been  in  existence  these  three 
hundred  years.  It  was  founded  for  a  specific 
purpose,  and  there  is  no  evidence  that  its  officials 
have  ever  manifested  an  extreme  degree  of  cor- 
diality towards  unauthorized  persons,  who  would 
interfere  with  them.  Even  the  eminent  philan- 
thropist who  is  now  at  the  head  of  that  great 
Company  would  probably  not  lay  claim  to  any 
great  toleration  of  interlopers. 

In  accordance  with  this  idea  of  a  trading  church, 
a  colony  was  established  on  the  inner  shore  of 
Massachusetts  Bay,  at  Boston,  and  at  Newtown, 


JOHN   WINTHROP  95 

since  called  Cambridge.  Those  who  were  of  like 
mind  with  the  founders  were  free  to  join.  Those 
who  held  contrary  views  were  free  to  go  else- 
where, and  no  one  was  compelled  to  adopt  the 
ideas,  or  conform  to  the  views  which  the  majority 
of  the  colonists  entertained.  When  the  church  in 
Salem  was  being  set  up,  two  persons  protested 
that  they  were  dissatisfied.  They  were  desired  to 
take  ship  and  proceed  to  England.  When  Roger 
Williams  declared  that  he  was  not  in  harmony 
with  the  principle  upon  which  the  community 
was  established,  he  was  privately  notified  by  Win- 
throp  that  he  was  free  to  withdraw  beyond  the 
jurisdiction  of  the  Company  and  join  with  per- 
sons whose  views  were  more  in  accord  with  his 
own.  He  followed  this  advice  and  set  up  for  him- 
self on  Narragansett  Bay.  When  Mrs.  Hutchin- 
son and  her  friends  discovered  their  dissent,  they 
also  were  urged  to  depart.  Some  of  the  Com- 
pany proceeded  to  New  Hampshire  and  there 
established  towns.  Others  went  to  Rhode  Island 
and  laid  the  foundations  of  Providence.  From 
these  colonies  in  turn  new  dissenters  went  out 
into  the  wilderness,  and  in  new  places  found  free- 
dom of  thought  and  action,  with  no  interference 
from  their  neighbours.  The  greatest  exodus  of 
all  was  toward  Connecticut,  and  there  in  reality 


96  ESSAYS  IN  PURITANISM 

was  laid  the  foundation  of  the  United  States  as 
we  know  it  to-day.  The  movement  was  perfectly 
free.  Men  who  were  dissatisfied  with  their  strange 
environment  returned  home,  or  sought  refuge  in 
some  other  community ;  or,  failing  to  find  satis- 
faction there,  they  boldly  sat  down  by  themselves. 
There  is  a  provision  in  many  seeds  for  their 
dissemination.  In  like  manner  the  seeds  of  Puri- 
tanism were  sown  broadcast  throughout  New 
England. 

The  proceedings  of  that  court  in  London  at 
which  the  new  governor  was  chosen  were  not  so 
transparent  as  might  appear.  The  thing  was 
a  revolt.  The  Massachusetts  Company  was  at  the 
mercy  of  the  King  whilst  its  headquarters  re- 
mained in  London,  so  they  resolved  to  transfer 
legally  the  whole  government  beyond  the  seas. 
Once  entrenched  behind  the  rocks  of  New  Eng- 
land they  considered  themselves  safe.  They  were 
safe,  and  are  to  this  day.  It  was  John  Winthrop 
who  did  it. 

However  the  emigrants  might  attempt  to  dis- 
guise it  from  themselves,  the  exodus  was  a  revolt 
from  the  church  and  state  of  England,  as  sincere, 
if  not  as  open,  as  the  rebellion  of  Cromwell.  The 
formal  declaration  of  their  intention  was  post- 
poned, it  is  true,  for  a  century  and  a  half,  but 


JOHN  WINTHROP  97 

the  events  which  culminated  in  1776  were  only 
the  culmination  of  events  which  began  to  operate 
long  before  1620.  The  American  Revolution,  we 
know,  was  in  no  sense  the  last  desperate  effort 
of  despairing  men,  groaning  under  oppression 
and  goaded  by  tyranny.  No  men  of  English 
breed  have  ever  groaned  or  been  goaded  long; 
they  always  looked  to  the  matter  with  the  first 
weight  or  the  first  thrust.  They,  at  least,  —  what- 
ever the  Hebrews  of  Lower  Asia  did,  —  always 
could  and  always  did  kick  against  the  pricks. 
The  New  England  exiles  were  no  oxen.  Their 
rebellion  was  systematic,  and  was  so  understood 
in  England. 

Once  they  were  safely  over  sea  the  minds  of 
the  colonists  quickly  grew  familiar  with  the  idea 
of  an  absolute  separation.  As  early  as  the  year 
1634  all  the  ministers  in  the  colony  met  at  Bos- 
ton, at  the  summons  of  the  Governor  and  assist- 
ants, to  consider  what  ought  to  be  done  if  a  gov- 
ernor-general were  sent  from  England ;  and  they 
agreed  that  "  in  such  an  event  we  ought  not  to 
accept  him,  but  defend  our  lawful  possessions,  if 
we  were  able,  otherwise  to  avoid  or  protract." 
That  is  the  way  of  success  in  all  rebellions,  to 
defend  our  lawful  possessions  if  we  are  able, 
otherwise  to  avoid  or  protract. 


98  ESSAYS   IN   PURITANISM 

Not  all  tlie  inhabitants  were  of  this  politic 
mind,  or  the  magistrates  either.  John  Endieott, 
Governor  of  Salem,  with  his  sword  slashed  the 
red  cross  of  Saint  George  from  the  banner  of 
England,  and  so  left  no  doubt  of  the  political 
and  religious  sentiments  which  he  entertained. 
The  court  was  wise  enough  to  notice  the  incident, 
but  because  they  could  not  agree,  the  case  was 
deferred  till  the  next  general  meeting.  The  com- 
missioners for  military  affairs  gave  order,  "  for 
the  meantime,"  that  all  ensigns  should  be  laid 
aside.  At  the  next  meeting  a  suspiciously  formal 
enquiry  was  made,  and  Endieott  was  adjudged 
worthy  of  admonition,  on  the  grounds  that,  "  if 
he  judged  the  cross  to  be  a  sin,  he  did  content 
himself  to  have  reformed  it  at  Salem  alone,  not 
taking  care  that  others  might  be  brought  out  of 
it  also,  laying  a  blemish  upon  the  magistracy,  as 
if  they  would  suffer  idolatry,  and  give  occasion  to 
the  State  of  England  to  think  ill  of  us."  No  men- 
tion was  made  of  the  offence  itself,  but  the  magis- 
trates undertook  to  write  to  England  in  this 
sense,  "  expressing  our  dislike  of  the  thing,  yet 
with  as  much  wariness  as  we  might,  signifying 
that  though  we  were  very  clear  that  the  fact,  as 
concerning  the  manner,  was  very  unlawful." 

The  possibility  of  an  attempt  to  force  a  gov- 


JOHN  WINTHROP  99 

ernor-general  upon  the  colonists  was  ever  before 
their  eyes.  The  colony  was  not  five  years  old 
when  tidings  were  received  of  the  commission 
issued  to  the  Archbishops  and  ten  of  the  Council 
to  regulate  all  plantations,  to  call  in  patents,  to 
make  laws,  and  raise  tithes.  They  were  advised 
at  the  same  time  that  ships  and  soldiers  were 
on  the  way  to  compel  them  by  force  to  receive 
a  governor  and  the  discipline  of  the  Church  of 
England.  All  this  occasioned  the  magistrates  to 
"  discover  their  minds  to  each  other,  which  grew 
to  this  conclusion,  that  five  hundred  pounds  more 
were  raised  to  hasten  our  fortifications." 

When  war  finally  broke  out  between  Cromwell 
and  the  King,  the  interest  which  the  colonists 
took  in  the  matter  was  purely  academic,  or  rather 
theological.  At  a  court  in  1644,  Captain  Jenyson, 
whose  military  and  political  qualifications  are  set 
forth  with  singular  enthusiasm,  was  brought  to 
task  for  questioning  the  lawfulness  of  the  Parlia- 
mentary proceedings  in  England.  He  made  the 
ingenious  defence  that  being  a  church  member 
he  should  first  have  been  dealt  with  in  a  private 
way,  and  the  magistrates  came  under  censure  for 
their  precipitancy.  The  culprit  satisfied  both  sides 
by  "  professing  that  he  was  assured  that  those  of 
the  Parliament  side  were  the  more  godly,  and 


100  ESSAYS  IN  PURITANISM 

thougli  if  he  were  in  England,  he  might  be  doubt- 
ful which  side  he  should  take,  yet  if  the  King  or 
any  party  should  attempt  anything  against  this 
Commonwealth,  he  should  make  no  scruple  to 
spend  estate  and  life  and  all  in  his  defence  against 
them."  That  was  in  the  true  New  England  spirit, 
so  Captain  Jenyson  "was  dismissed  to  further 
consideration."  Loyalty  to  them  was  no  blind  un- 
reasoning fealty.  At  an  earlier  court  than  that  in 
which  Captain  Jenyson  was  dismissed  to  further 
consideration  a  scruple  arose  about  the  oath 
which  the  magistrates  were  to  take,  —  "  you  shall 
bear  true  faith  and  allegiance  to  our  Sovereign 
Lord,  King  Charles."  After  due  consideration  it 
was  "  thought  fit  to  omit  that  part  of  it  for  the  pre- 
sent;" which  was  avoiding  and  protracting  again. 
When  the  King  finally  made  his  submission 
to  the  Parliament,  the  colonists  were  advised  to 
"  send  over  some  one  to  solicit  for  them,  the 
Parliament  giving  hope  that  they  might  attain 
much ;  "  but  these  wily  old  Puritans,  having  con- 
sulted about  it,  "  declined  the  motion  on  the 
grounds  that  if  they  should  put  themselves  under 
the  protection  of  the  Parliament,  they  must  then 
be  subjected  to  all  such  laws  as  the  Parliament 
might  impose,  in  which  case  it  might  prove  very 
prejudicial  to  them." 


JOHN  WINTHROP  101 

The  fact  of  the  matter  is  that  the  colonists 
regarded  themselves  as  independent  from  the 
first  moment  of  setting  foot  upon  New  England 
soil,  and  from  that  moment  their  every  effort  was 
directed  towards  some  form  of  government  which 
should  meet  their  new  conditions.  At  length,  in 
1639,  by  the  Fundamental  Orders  of  Connecticut, 
a  state  government  was  called  into  existence,  A 
general  republic  was  created,  composed  of  three 
towns,  with  equality  of  representation,  with  a 
governor  and  upper  house,  elected  by  a  plurality 
of  votes.  In  none  of  the  articles  of  this  Constitu- 
tion was  the  slightest  mention  made  of  any  coun- 
try or  any  sovereign  beyond  the  seas.  Nor  were 
there  any  theoretical  considerations  of  equality 
and  liberty.  The  thing  was  taken  for  granted. 
The  towns  and  their  inhabitants  were  the  re- 
positories of  all  authority.  Finally,  in  1643,  all 
the  inhabitants  between  the  seacoast  and  the  Con- 
necticut River  prepared  to  bind  themselves  into 
a  confederacy,  of  which  the  articles  were  most  ex- 
plicit, and  gave  no  account  of  any  allegiance  owed 
to  any  other  country  whatever. 

Nothing  was  further  from  Winthrop's  mind 
than  the  establishment  of  a  "  democracy  "  in  the 
new  world.  He  had  another  purpose  entirely, 
which  was  to  establish  an  absolute  community  of 


102  ESSAYS  IN  PURITANISM 

churcli  and  state ;  but  he  was  soon  to  learn  that 
his  project  was  impracticable.  He  turned  away 
from  it  quickly  and  endeavoured  to  find  a  new 
and  better  way.  This  hesitancy  of  mind  between 
the  old  and  the  new  explains  his  mingled  severity 
and  kindliness,  his  conciliation  and  repression, 
his  untried  experiments,  and  his  holding  fast  to 
that  which  he  knew. 

Once  Winthrop  had  cast  aside  the  old  theo- 
cratic idea  of  government,  he  had  to  feel  his  way 
between  the  bigotry  of  Endicott,  the  rashness 
of  Dudley,  and  the  foolishness  of  John  Cotton ; 
between  the  sheer  obstinacy  of  the  elders  and 
magistrates  on  the  one  hand,  and  the  recalci- 
trancy of  the  people  on  the  other.  If  we  would 
follow  the  tortuous  course  of  early  New  England 
history,  we  must  take  John  Winthrop  for  our 
guide.  We  should  find  the  Governor  now  lead- 
ing, now  following,  at  one  time  stumbling  over 
justification  by  faith,  again  turning  aside  from  a 
covenant  of  works,  and  always  with  the  hesitancy 
of  a  man  who  has  left  behind  the  guiding  prin- 
ciple which  had  once  been  so  sufficient  for  him. 

It  would  require  a  great  expanse  of  writing, 
and  it  might  not  be  worth  the  trouble,  if  one 
were  to  enter  into  the  interminable  debates  in 
which   are  found  the  mutual   recriminations  of 


JOHN  WINTHROP  103 

these  bewildered  legislators,  and  to  describe  all 
the  provisional  conventions  by  which  their  dis- 
agreements were  temporarily  composed.  The 
most  we  can  do  is  to  survey  the  main  obstacles 
which  Winthrop  encountered  in  his  efforts  to 
govern  New  England. 

Under  ordinary  circumstances  the  historical 
records  of  any  community  fall  into  four  divisions, 
according  as  they  deal  with  autocracy,  oligarchy, 
hierarchy,  and  the  final  rule  of  the  people.  That 
has  ever  been  the  course  of  human  events,  from 
despotism  to  the  government  by  a  few,  from  that 
to  priestly  control,  and  then  a  gradual  enlargement 
until  all  have  obtained  a  due  share.  It  is  usually 
only  by  slow  stages  that  the  freemen  arrive  at 
any  share  in  the  control  of  public  affairs.  It  is 
only  by  winning  their  rights  that  the  people  prove 
their  right  to  possession,  and  by  holding  them 
that  they  establish  their  ability  to  hold  that  which 
they  have  won.  These  people  had  been  cast  upon 
a  foreign  shore,  without  any  body  of  opinion  or 
law  for  the  government  either  of  church  or  of 
state.  Accordingly,  the  government  was  purely 
a  despotism,  and  that  is  the  only  method  by  which 
a  primitive  community  can  be  governed.  John 
Winthrop  was  the  despot,  and  it  is  fortunate  that 
it  was  so,  for  he  was  quick  to  realize  the  inevit- 


104  ESSAYS  IN   PURITANISM 

ableness  of  the  final  conclusion.  So,  in  New 
England  the  stages  of  advance  were  short  and 
the  progress  rapid.  Governor  Winthrop  was  too 
wise,  the  magistrates  were  too  feeble,  the  min- 
isters were  too  foolish,  and  the  people  were  too 
resolute,  to  permit  of  the  issue  being  long  de- 
layed. Indeed,  the  stages  were  so  short  that  no 
one  system  had  time  to  become  well  organized. 
Neither  the  Governor,  the  magistrates,  nor  the 
ministers  ever  got  beyond  a  pretension  to  au- 
thority, and  that  pretension  was  continually  being 
disputed.  Indeed,  there  were  practically  only  two 
divisions.  The  Governor,  the  magistrates,  and 
the  ministers  stood  together,  and  quarrelled  only 
incidentally  ;  the  common  people  were  in  opposi- 
tion to  all  three.  This  is  true  in  the  main,  but  it 
is  easy  to  find  instances  of  the  Governor's  irrita- 
tion against  the  magistrates,  and  against  the 
ministers,  and  those  two  bodies  often  called  him 
to  task. 

As  early  as  1635  there  was  a  strong  feeling  in 
the  church  of  Boston  against  the  Governor,  and 
the  members  were  earnest  with  the  elders  to  have 
him  called  to  account.  But  he  took  occasion  to 
forestall  them  by  stating  openly  that  if  he  had 
been  called  to  account  he  should  have  desired 
first  to  advise  with  the  elders  whether  the  church 


JOHN  WINTHROP  105 

had  power  to  call  in  question  a  proceeding  of  the 
civil  court ;  and  second,  he  would  have  consulted 
with  the  rest  of  the  court  whether  he  might  dis- 
cover their  concerns  in  the  assembly.  Though 
he  affirmed  "  that  the  elders  and  some  others  did 
know  already  that  the  church  could  not  enquire 
into  the  justice  and  proceedings  of  the  court,  he 
would  go  as  far  as  to  further  declare  his  mind 
upon  the  matter."  He  showed  that  if  the  church 
had  such  power  they  must  have  it  from  Christ ; 
but  Christ  disclaimed  it  in  his  practice ;  and 
though  Christ's  kingly  power  was  in  his  church, 
it  was  not  that  kingly  power  whereby  he  is  King 
of  Kings  and  Lord  of  Lords.  Further,  he  would 
submit  that  if  in  pursuing  the  course  of  justice, 
though  the  thing  were  unjust,  yet  he  was  not 
accountable  to  them. 

A  book  was  brought  into  court  wherein  the 
institution  of  the  standing  council  was  pretended 
to  be  a  sinful  innovation.  The  Governor  ruled 
to  have  the  contents  of  the  book  examined,  and  if 
there  appeared  cause,  to  enquire  after  the  author. 
But  the  greater  part  of  the  court  having  some 
intimation  of  the  author,  and  being  friendly  to 
him,  would  not  consent  to  the  Governor's  pro- 
posal. 

The  ministers  ruled  that  no  member  of  the  court 


106  ESSAYS  IN  PURITANISM 

ought  to  be  publicly  questioned  by  tbe  church  for 
any  speech  in  the  court,  without  the  license  of  the 
court ;  "  that  in  all  such  heresy  and  errors  of  any 
church  members,  as  are  manifest  and  dangerous 
to  the  state,  the  court  may  proceed  without  tarry- 
ing for  the  church ;  but  if  the  opinions  be  doubt- 
ful they  are  first  to  refer  them  to  the  church." 
Shortly  afterward,  Mr.  Wheelwright  was  brought 
up  to  be  questioned  for  a  sermon  which  seemed  to 
tend  to  sedition,  whereupon  nearly  all  the  church 
of  Boston  presented  a  petition  to  the  court  for 
two  things ;  that  as  freemen  they  might  be  pre- 
sent in  cases  of  judicature,  and  that  the  court 
should  declare  if  it  might  deal  in  cases  of  con- 
science in  advance  of  the  church.  This  was  taken 
as  a  groundless  and  presumptuous  act,  and  was 
rejected  with  the  answer,  "that  the  court  had 
never  used  to  proceed  but  it  was  openly,  but  for 
matter  of  consultation  and  preparation  they  might 
and  would  be  private."  There  was  so  much  heat 
and  contention  that  it  was  moved  that  the  next 
court  should  be  kept  at  Cambridge,  but  that 
resolution  came  to  nothing. 

Upon  one  occasion  the  Governor  and  council 
countermanded  an  expedition  against  the  Narra- 
gansetts,  and  some  of  the  people  protested.  The 
Governor  denied  the  right  to  protest,  but  after- 


//^         OF  T,. 

(    UNIVER 

^^'*4k^fP^L^">'"     JOHN  WINTHROP  107 

wards  lie  permitted  the  expedition  to  proceed 
"  rather  to  satisfy  the  people  than  for  any  need 
that  appeared."  The  Governor  was  continually 
taking  offence  at  the  interference  of  the  ministers, 
though  he  admitted  their  right  to  proceed  in 
what  he  called  a  churchlike  way.  At  one  general 
court  for  elections  a  disturbance  resulted  upon 
some  question  of  procedure.  There  was  great 
danger  of  an  open  tumult,  "  for  those  of  one  side 
grew  into  fierce  speeches,  and  some  laid  hands  on 
others,  but  seeing  themselves  too  weak  they  grew 
quiet."  The  people  of  Boston  elected  deputies 
who  were  disliked  by  the  court,  and  the  magis- 
trates found  means  to  send  them  back  home  alleg- 
ing that  two  of  the  freemen  had  no  notice  of  the 
election,  and  so  they  declared  the  election  void. 
The  people  of  Boston  next  morning  returned  the 
same  deputies,  "  and  the  court  not  finding  how 
they  might  reject  them,  they  were  admitted." 
Charles  the  First  had  not  so  much  sense. 

Again,  the  deputies  proposed  that  all  affairs  of 
the  Commonwealth,  in  the  vacation  of  the  general 
court,  should  be  transacted  by  a  commission  of 
seven  magistrates  and  three  deputies.  The  magis- 
trates ruled  that  the  court  alone  should  treat  of 
those  affairs,  and  the  freemen  replied  that  the 
Governor  and  assistants  had  no  power  but  what 


108  ESSAYS  IN  PURITANISM 

was  given  them  by  the  general  court.  The  whole 
situation  was  finally  summed  up  by  one  of  the 
deputies  who  protested ;  "  Then  you  will  not  be 
obeyed." 

The  question  of  the  relation  of  one  authority 
to  another  finally  culminated  "  in  a  great  busi- 
ness which  fell  out  upon  a  very  small  occasion," 
commonly  known  in  New  England  annals  as  the 
"  sow  business."  It  appears  that  there  was  a 
stray  sow  in  Boston,  which  was  brought  to  one 
Captain  Kaine  ;  he  had  it  cried  abroad  and  sev- 
eral came  to  see  it,  but  none  claimed  it  for  nearly 
a  year.  But  Captain  Kaine  had  a  sow  of  his  own, 
which,  when  the  time  was  ripe,  he  killed  in  the 
usual  way.  Then  the  wife  of  one  Sherman,  who 
alleged  that  she  had  lost  a  sow,  came  to  examine 
the  stray  animal  and  had  to  admit  that  it  was  not 
hers.  Then  she  resorted  to  the  feminine  strata- 
gem of  alleging  that  the  sow  which  had  been 
killed  probably  belonged  to  her.  The  matter  was 
brought  before  the  elders  of  the  church  as  a 
cause  of  offence.  Many  witnesses  were  examined 
and  Captain  Kaine  was  declared  innocent.  The 
woman  brought  the  case  to  another  court,  where 
the  man  was  again  cleared,  and  was  allowed 
twenty  pounds  against  the  complainant  for  slan- 
der.   The  matter  was  opened  up  again   in   the 


JOHN   WINTHROP  109 

Salem  court,  and  the  best  part  of  seven  days  was 
spent  in  examining  witnesses  and  debating  the 
case.  But  even  then  no  decision  could  be  arrived 
at,  for  the  deputies  voted  one  way  and  the  magis- 
trates the  other.  The  upshot  of  the  matter  was 
that  in  1644,  "  upon  the  motion  of  the  deputies, 
it  was  ordered  that  the  court  should  be  divided 
in  their  consultations,  the  magistrates  by  them- 
selves and  the  deputies  by  themselves ;  what  the 
one  agreed  upon  they  should  send  to  the  other, 
and  if  both  agreed  then  to  pass,  etc."  The  founda- 
tion of  the  government  of  the  United  States  was 
laid,  and  it  was  not  laid  in  blood.  That  is  John 
Winthrop's  claim  to  greatness.  Had  the  Stuarts 
been  as  wise,  they  would  have  been  upon  the 
throne  of  England  at  this  day. 

It  took  the  world  a  long  time,  it  took  the  min- 
isters of  religion  a  longer  time,  to  learn  what  was 
their  true  relation  to  the  state.  There  have  been 
occasions  when  there  was  no  other  body  than  the 
church  which  was  competent  to  carry  on  the  gov- 
ernment or  the  ordinary  business  of  a  civilized 
society.  That  happened  when  the  Roman  Em- 
pire went  to  pieces ;  it  happened  again  when  the 
New  England  colonists  found  themselves  in  a 
new  world,  an  unorganized  mass  of  humanity. 
It  took  Europe  eighteen  centuries  to  learn  the 


110  ESSAYS   IN   PURITANISM 

difference  between  the  sword  of  the  flesh  and 
the  sword  of  the  spirit,  and  the  lesson  is  not  well 
learned  yet.  New  England  learned  the  first  rudi- 
ments in  eighteen  years.  The  history  of  those 
eighteen  centuries  is  in  large  part  a  record  of  the 
attempt  of  the  church  to  perform  the  duties  of  gov- 
ernment, and,  when  that  failed,  of  its  insistence 
that  it  should  tell  the  rulers  and  then  the  people 
what  they  should  do,  and  how  they  ought  to  do  it. 
It  is  only  within  our  own  time  that  the  church 
has  learned  that  its  business  is  to  deal  with  every 
political  event,  not  in  relation  to  the  kingdom  of 
this  world,  but  in  relation  alone  to  the  kingdom 
of  God.  The  first  Governor  of  Massachusetts 
saw  in  a  glass  darkly,  but  what  he  saw  was  enough 
for  his  sane  mind,  and  he  laid  a  foundation  of 
knowledge,  which  is  yet  the  basis  of  government 
in  the  United  States,  and  always  will  be. 

The  next  difficulty  was  the  need  of  a  body  of 
fundamental  laws,  and  Mr.  Cotton  and  other 
ministers  were  called  in  to  the  assistance  of  the 
magistrates.  The  best  Mr.  Cotton  could  do  was 
to  present  a  "  model  of  Moses,  his  judicials,"  but 
the  magistrates  had  the  wisdom  to  take  them  into 
further  consideration  till  the  next  court.  The 
people  considered  their  position  unsafe,  whilst  so 
much  power  rested  in  the  discretion  of  the  magis- 


JOHN  WINTHROP  111 

trates  ;  and  yet,  for  very  weighty  reasons,  "  most 
of  the  magistrates  and  some  of  the  elders  were 
not  very  forward  in  the  matter."  Their  hesi- 
tancy was  based  upon  the  soundest  consideration 
of  policy.  In  their  judgement  there  was  a  "  want 
of  sufficient  experience  of  the  nature  and  con- 
dition of  the  people,  considered  in  relation  to 
the  condition  of  the  country  and  other  circum- 
stances." They  conceived  that  the  only  sound 
laws  are  those  which  arise  i^o  rei  natura  ;  the 
fundamental  laws  of  England  arose  in  that  way ; 
under  their  charter  they  were  expressly  denied 
the  right  of  making  laws  repugnant  to  the  laws 
of  England,  and  the  laws  of  England  they  would 
not  have.  Therefore  they  preferred  to  "  avoid 
and  protract,"  and  so  they  would  have  none. 
They  would  permit  of  no  set  penalties  even  for 
such  offences  as  lying  and  swearing;  but  their 
reluctance  in  this  case  probably  arose  from  the 
determination  of  the  magistrates  that  their  au- 
thority should  not  be  lessened  or  taken  away. 
The  deputy  governor  at  this  time  was  Mr. 
Dudley,  "  a  wise  and  stout  gentleman,  who  would 
not  be  trodden  under  foot  by  any  man,"  but  in 
the  end  even  he  was  compelled  to  become  amen- 
able to  the  hundred  laws,  which  came  to  be 
known  as  the  Body  of  Liberties. 


112  ESSAYS  IN  PURITANISM 

The  casual  reader  of  New  England  history- 
gains  the  impression  that  the  church  and  state 
were  identical ;  as  sometimes  happens,  the  casual 
reader  is  wrong.  The  church  was  one  with  the 
state  only  incidentally,  and  that  for  a  very  short 
period. 

The  resolution  of  the  people  that  they  would 
have  none  of  clerical  control  is  amply  revealed  in 
the  Congregationalism  of  the  early  churches.  It 
was  the  custom  of  the  ministers  to  meet  once  a 
fortnight  at  different  houses  in  turn.  Koger  Wil- 
liams took  exception  to  this  practice,  fearing  it 
might  in  time  grow  into  a  presbytery,  but  all  were 
clear  in  their  minds  that  the  fear  was  groundless, 
inasmuch  as  "  no  church  or  person  can  have  power 
over  another  church."  Yet  the  churches  were 
bound  by  an  agreement  to  assist  each  other  by 
what  was  called  advice,  and  they  had  frequent  re- 
sort to  it.  On  one  occasion  there  was  a  difference 
between  the  church  of  Charlestown  and  their 
pastor,  Mr.  James,  who,  it  appears,  was  a  very 
melancholic  man  and  full  of  causeless  jealousies, 
for  which  he  had  been  dealt  with  publicly  and 
privately.  Chosen  men,  mostly  elders,  were  sum- 
moned from  various  churches,  and  they  agreed 
that  the  melancholic  minister  should  be  cast  out, 
if  he  persisted  in  his  course. 


JOHN  WINTHROP  113 

Again,  it  was  proposed  to  begin  a  new  cliurcli  in 
Dorchester,  and  the  inhabitants  desired  the  appro- 
bation of  the  other  churches,  but  permission  was 
refused,  on  the  allegation  that  the  applicants  had 
builded  their  comfort  of  salvation  upon  unsound 
grounds,  some  upon  dreams  and  ravishes  of  spirit 
and  by  fits,  others  upon  the  reformation  of  their 
lives,  others  upon  duties  and  performances.  En- 
quiring further  into  the  nature  of  this  apostasy 
the  elders  discovered  three  especial  errors  :  that 
the  residents  in  Dorchester  had  not  come  to  hate 
sin  because  it  was  sinful,  but  because  it  was  hurt- 
ful ;  that  they  had  made  use  of  Christ  only  to  help 
their  own  imperfections ;  that  they  expected  to 
believe  through  some  power  of  their  own.  The 
inhabitants  of  Woburn,  "  a  village  at  the  end  of 
Charlestown  bounds,"  had  gathered  a  church  and 
were  about  to  ordain  a  minister.  They  would  not 
permit  the  elders  of  any  other  church  to  assist,  lest 
it  might  be  an  occasion  of  introducing  a  depend- 
ency of  churches,  and  then  a  presbytery,  so  they 
ordained  their  own  minister.  The  Governor  dis- 
closes his  own  opinion  in  the  remark,  that  the 
function  was  performed  "  not  so  well  and  orderly 
as  it  ought." 

The  undercurrent  of  revolt  against  hierarchy 
was  at  all  times  strong.    The  money  demanded  of 


114  ESSAYS   IN   PURITANISM 

the  people  for  the  support  of  the  church  was  great 
in  proportion  to  their  means,  and  it  was  usually 
raised  by  a  direct  tax,  "  which  was  very  offensive 
to  some."  That  we  can  well  believe.  One  Bris- 
tow,  of  Watertown,  "  who  had  his  barn  burnt," 
Winthrop  observes,  as  if  there  was  some  con- 
nection between  the  contumaciousness  of  the  man 
and  the  destruction  of  his  property,  being  grieved 
because  he  and  others  who  were  not  church  mem- 
bers were  taxed,  wrote  a  book  against  the  imposi- 
tion. That  was  ever  the  New  England  way  —  to 
write  a  book.  Winthrop  admits  that  the  man's 
arguments  were  weighty ;  but  he  could  not  be 
permitted  to  cast  reproach  upon  the  elders  and 
magistrates,  so  he  was  convented  before  the  court. 
With  perfect  fairness  nothing  was  required  of 
him  in  respect  of  his  arguments,  but  he  was  fined 
ten  pounds  "  for  some  slighting  of  the  court." 

The  casual  reader  is  in  possession  of  another 
misconception  —  that  the  greater  part  of  the  colo- 
nial activity  was  consumed  in  theological  con- 
troversy. This  current  misapprehension  of  the 
actual  state  of  affairs  which  prevailed  in  that 
period  of  expansion  arises  from  the  fact  that  the 
persons  who  were  mixed  up  in  theology,  and  con- 
sequently in  dissensions,  left  most  painstaking 
records  of  their  proceedings,  whilst  the  traders  in 


JOHN  WINTHROP  115 

rum,  fish,  cattle,  ships,  and  negroes  were  content 
to  carry  on  their  enterprise  in  silence.  A  reader 
of  the  jargon  in  the  Wall  Street  edition  of  to- 
day's newspaper,  or  of  the  proceedings  of  a  Meth- 
odist Conference,  a  Presbyterian  Assembly,  an 
Episcopal  Synod,  or  a  political  convention,  would 
get  a  very  definite  notion  of  some  things  which  are 
going  on  in  the  world,  but  he  would  be  astute 
enough  not  to  be  led  into  thinking  that  the  events 
therein  recorded  concerned  the  people  at  large. 

There  was,  however,  so  much  bickering  over  re- 
ligious matters,  and  they  yet  loom  so  large,  that 
we  must  endeavour  to  gain  some  notion  of  the  pro- 
blems in  divinity  which  agitated  the  little  com- 
munity, and  a  dull  business  it  will  be.  Looking  at 
the  matter  broadly,  the  whole  contention  turned 
upon  the  meaning  of  Sanctification  and  Justifica- 
tion. To  us  the  question  presents  no  difficulty  ; 
but  it  must  be  kept  in  mind  that  we  have  the 
Shorter  Catechism  in  our  hands,  and  this  sum  of 
saving  knowledge  was  not  devised  for  some  fifteen 
years  after  the  period  of  which  we  are  speaking. 
It  is  hard  for  a  Calvinist  to  realize  that  there  ever 
was  a  period  in  the  world's  history  devoid  of  the 
blessings  inherent  in  that  work.  Had  those 
seekers  after  truth  but  apprehended  the  simplicity 
of  the  thing  —  that  justification  is  an  act  and 


116  ESSAYS  IN  PURITANISM 

sanctification  a  worh^  that  effectual  calling  in  the 
Catechism  is  placed  textually  before  both,  and 
adoption  between  them  —  many  a  sincere  disput- 
ant would  have  been  spared  the  whipping-post, 
the  prison,  and  the  wintry  forest.  But  these  things, 
which  have  been  revealed  to  us,  it  was  not  suffered 
unto  Winthrop  to  know.  As  a  result,  the  com- 
munity was  divided  into  two  parties,  as  distinct  as 
Catholics  and  Protestants  in  other  countries, 
namely,  those  who  were  under  a  covenant  of  grace 
and  those  who  were  under  a  covenant  of  works. 
It  was  Arminianism  and  Calvinism  in  one  of  their 
opposing  aspects. 

With  the  appearance  of  the  Shorter  Catechism 
a  great  calm  fell  upon  the  religious  world.  At 
least  one  hundred  and  seven  questions  were  dis- 
posed of ;  whether  settled  right  or  wrong,  they 
were  settled ;  but  it  required  the  united  skill  of 
the  theologians  of  two  kingdoms,  and  Cromwell, 
to  keep  the  peace  between  them,  whilst  they  were 
engaged  upon  the  task.  With  these  two  fundamen- 
tals. Justification  and  Sanctification,  undecided, 
it  is  easy  to  understand  the  minor  errors  which 
would  accompany  or  flow  from  that  state  of  un- 
certainty. The  conditions  in  New  England  grew 
so  bad  by  the  year  1631  that  a  great  diet  or 
assembly  was  held  at  Cambridge,  or  Newtown  as 


JOHN  WINTHROP  117 

it  was  then  called,  to  which  came  all  the  teach- 
ing elders  throughout  the  country,  and  some  who 
were  newly  arrived  out  of  England.  A  summary 
was  presented  of  the  opinions  which  were  spread 
abroad ;  they  were  eighty  in  number,  "  some 
blasphemous,  others  erroneous,  and  all  unsafe." 
These  were  condemned  by  the  whole  assembly, 
and  all  present  subscribed  their  names,  some 
protesting  even  whilst  they  signed.  As  this  body 
of  error  was  revealed  in  all  its  grossness,  many 
took  offence,  as  if  it  were  a  reproach  laid  upon 
the  country,  and  they  insisted  that  the  persons 
should  be  named  who  held  these  errors.  Upon 
the  refusal  of  the  moderators  to  brin£:  the  errors 
home  to  individuals,  the  delegates  from  Boston 
departed  and  came  no  more  to  the  assembly. 

So  far  as  one  can  make  out  there  were  five  main 
points  in  question  between  Mr.  Cotton  and  Mr. 
Wheelwright  on  one  side,  Winthrop  and  the  elders 
taking  the  opposite  side.  It  is  worth  while  setting 
forth  these  questions,  to  illustrate  the  temper  of 
the  persons  who  became  excited  over  such  things, 
and  thought  they  understood  them.  The  first  was, 
whether  persons  are  united  with  Christ  before  the 
stage  of  active  faith ;  the  second  was,  of  course, 
about  the  evidence  of  justification  ;  the  third,  that 
the  new  creature  is  not  the  person  of  the  believer, 


118  ESSAYS  IN  PURITANISM 

but  a  body  of  saving  grace  in  sucb  an  one ;  the 
fourth,  that  God  does  not  justify  a  man  before 
he  is  effectually  called  ;  and  the  fifth,  that  Christ 
and  his  benefits  may  be  offered  to  a  man  who  is 
under  a  covenant  of  works,  "  but  not  in  or  by 
a  covenant  of  works." 

In  handling  these  questions  both  parties  deliv- 
ered their  arguments  in  writing.  These  were 
read  in  the  assembly,  and  afterwards  the  respect- 
ive answers  were  given,  and  a  decision  taken. 
As  soon  as  these  monsters  were  expelled,  the 
assembly  determined  to  drive  out  the  little  foxes 
also.  The  women  of  Boston  were  giving  trouble 
as  early  as  1631,  and  it  appears  there  was  a  set 
of  sixty  persons  which  met  every  week  to  listen 
to  their  leader,  "  who  took  upon  herself  the  whole 
exercise  in  a  prophetic  w^ay."  Her  misconduct 
was  declared  to  be  disorderly  and  without  rule. 
In  this  the  Governor  concurred.  There  was  a 
practice  of  asking  questions  after  the  sermon, 
and  under  cover  of  the  question  occasion  would 
be  taken  to  revile  the  elders,  and  to  reproach  the 
ministers  and  magistrates.  This  subtle  device 
was  also  utterly  condemned. 

There  was  great  hope  that  this  assembly  would 
have  some  good  effect  in  pacifying  the  dissensions 
about  matters  of  religion,  but  "  it  fell  out  other- 


JOHN  WINTHROP  119 

wise  ;  "  for  though  Mr.  Wheelwright  and  his  party- 
had  been  clearly  confounded  and  confuted,  they 
persisted  in  their  opinions ;  they  were  as  busy  as 
ever  in  nourishing  their  principles  and  drew  up 
a  petition  affirming  their  truth.  The  general 
court,  which  assembled  some  time  after,  took 
the  matter  up.  One  of  the  recalcitrants  was  dis- 
franchised and  banished,  and  word  was  sent  to 
Boston  that  deputies  must  be  sent  who  would  be 
more  amenable  to  argument ;  but  the  town  per- 
sisted in  sending  the  same  deputies.  The  end  of 
it  was  that  Mr.  Wheelwright  was  disfranchised 
and  banished.  He  appealed  to  the  King.  The 
appeal  was  not  allowed  to  lie,  and  he  was  given 
fourteen  days  to  remove  himself  out  of  the  juris- 
diction. Nor  did  the  valiant  Captain  Underbill 
escape,  for  he  with  some  five  or  six  others  was 
disfranchised,  and  they  were  removed  from  their 
public  places.  The  court  ordered  that  all  those 
who  had  subscribed  to  these  doctrines  and  would 
not  acknowledge  their  fault  should  be  disarmed. 
The  church  in  Boston  did  not  receive  this 
chastisement  with  a  good  grace,  and  proceeded 
to  call  the  Governor  to  account.  He  forestalled 
them,  however,  by  opening  up  the  question  of  the 
jurisdiction  of  the  civil  court  over  the  church. 
He  proved  his  case  by  referring  to  Uzzia,  to  Asa, 


120  ESSAYS  IN  PURITANISM 

who  put  the  prophet  in  prison,  to  Solomon,  who 
removed  Abiathar  from  the  priesthood,  and  finally- 
justified  the  banishment  by  the  example  of  Lot, 
and  by  the  sending  away  of  Hagar  and  Ishmael. 
At  Eoxbury,  also,  the  church  proceeded  on  simi- 
lar lines,  and  spent  many  days  in  public  meetings 
to  bring  the  petitioners  to  a  comprehension  of  the 
full  enormity  of  their  sin,  but  the  best  they  could 
do  was  to  cast  them  out  of  the  church.  At  Wey- 
mouth, however,  the  elders  had  better  results  in 
reconciling  the  differences  between  the  people. 

The  errors  cited  above  were  merely  the  more 

open  and   notorious,  but  it   appears  that  there 

were  many  secret  opinions  which  were  scarcely 

less  tolerable ;  some  went  so  far  as  to  hold  that 

there  was  no  inherent  righteousness  in  a  child 

of   God;   that  neither  absolute  nor  conditional 

promises   belonged  to   the   Christian;   that  the 

Sabbath  was  but  as  other  days;  that  the  soul 

was  mortal  till   it  was   united   to  Christ;   and 

finally  that  there  was  no  resurrection  of  the  body. 

The  town  of  Providence  appears  to  have  been  the 

head  centre  for  the  propagation  of  these  evils, 

and  it  was  ordered  that  if  any  of  the  residents 

were  found  within  the    jurisdiction  of   Boston, 

they  should  be  sent  home  and  charged  to  come 

there  no  more  under  pain  of  imprisonment. 


JOHN  WINTHROP  121 

It  would  be  tedious  to  enumerate  all  the  ques- 
tions which  agitated  the  community ;  that  faith 
is  a  cause  of  justification ;  that  the  letter  of  the 
Scripture  holds  forth  a  covenant  of  works,  and 
its  spirit  a  covenant  of  grace ;  that  a  man  might 
have  special  communion  with  Jesus  Christ  and 
yet  be  damned.    It  would  be  more  tedious  still 
to  enumerate  all  the  attempts  that  were  made  to 
solve  the  doubts.    To  Mr.  Cotton,  sixteen  points 
were  presented  in  writing,  and  all  business  of 
the   court   was    put   off   for   three   weeks,    that 
they  might  bring  matters  to  an  issue.   Looking 
at   the   matter   narrowly,    these    incidents   were 
merely  church  quarrels,  such  as  happen  even  yet 
in  every  Protestant  community,  and  never  gain 
a  wider  currency  than  in  tea-table  talk  or  village 
scandal.    In  the  early  days  they  were  the  subject 
matter  of  history,  because  the  church  was  inci- 
dentally the  state.    The  place  of  these  contentions 
is  now  taken  by  the  equally  trivial  matters  which 
transpire  in  the  corridors  of  legislative  halls,  or 
in  the  secret  meetings  of  small  politicians.    The 
indwelling  of  the  Holy  Ghost  is  as  profitable  a 
subject  of    discussion  as  many  of   the    political 
theories  which  are  now  agitating  the  public  mind. 

We  should  not  fail  to  take  note  of  another  of 
Winthrop's  main  difficulties,  which  was  the  men- 


122  ESSAYS  IN  PURITANISM 

tal  disorderliness  of  the  people,  at  times  amount- 
ing to  actual  hysteria.  Strong  emotion  acting  upon 
a  weak  mind  always  produces  disorder.  In  this 
case  it  was  the  religious  emotion.  It  fell  with  full 
force,  and  even  normal  minds  were  affected  by  it. 
The  mind  of  the  Governor  himself  was  influenced 
by  it,  but  its  worst  effects  were  witnessed  in  the 
case  of  women  and  children.  A  woman  of  the 
Boston  Congregation,  having  been  in  much 
trouble  of  mind  about  her  spiritual  state,  at  length 
grew  into  bitter  desperation  ;  she  could  endure  the 
uncertainty  no  longer,  and  decided  to  set  the 
matter  for  ever  at  rest ;  so  one  day  she  took  her 
infant  child  and  threw  it  into  a  well,  saying  now 
she  was  sure  she  would  be  damned.  It  is  always 
a  mark  of  a  disordered  mind  in  a  woman,  when 
she  manifests  excessive  concern  about  her  own 
soul,  or  any  concern  whatever  about  the  souls  of 
persons  outside  of  her  own  household.  Of  course, 
very  few  women  went  to  the  extreme  of  throwing 
their  children  into  wells,  but  sixty  women  of  Bos- 
ton used  to  meet  together  every  week  to  "  resolve 
questions  of  doctrine." 

At  Providence  also,  *'  the  devil  was  not  jdle ; 
men's  wives  claimed  liberty  to  go  to  all  religious 
meetings,  though  never  so  often."  A  meeting  was 
organized  to  censure  a   domestic    tyrant  named 


JOHN  WINTHROP  123 

Udrin,  and  some  were  of  opinion  "that  if  he 
would  not  suffer  his  wife  to  have  her  liberty,  the 
church  should  dispose  her  to  one  who  would  use 
her  better."  One  Greene,  who  spoke  out  of  the 
fulness  of  his  experience,  for  he  had  married  a 
woman  "  whose  husband  was  then  living,  and  no 
divorce,"  gave  testimony  to  a  phenomenon  with 
which  we  are  not  entirely  unfamiliar,  "  that  if 
they  should  restrain  their  wives,  all  the  women 
in  the  country  would  cry  out  against  them."  The 
devil  —  that  was  Winthrop's  interpretation  of 
the  spirit  which  was  at  work  —  continued  to  dis- 
turb the  peace  through  his  agent,  the  wife  of  a 
Salem  man  named  Oliver.  As  an  indication  of 
her  obstinacy  of  nature,  Winthrop  notes  that 
whilst  in  England  she  would  not  bow  her  knee 
even  at  the  name  of  Jesus. 

This  woman  stood  up  in  the  church  on  Sacra- 
ment Day  and  demanded  the  sacred  elements, 
"  and  would  not  forbear  before  Mr.  Endicott  did 
threaten  to  send  the  constable  to  put  her  forth." 
This  went  on  for  five  years,  and  in  the  end  the 
woman  was  adjudged  to  be  whipped,  which  was 
certainly  an  extreme  measure. 

This  abnormal  excitability  has  not  yet  dis- 
appeared from  the  expanded  New  England  com- 
munity now  known  as  the   United    States,  and 


124  ESSAYS  IN  PURITANISM 

some  have  thought  that  they  have  witnessed  its 
manifestations  in  many  other  quarters  than  those 
in  which  women  dwell.  It  does  not  require  a  very 
acute  or  trained  observer  to  detect  the  operations 
of  that  spirit  in  the  church,  in  the  colleges,  in 
schools  and  in  homes,  in  the  legislatures,  in  the 
newspapers  and  in  the  political  assemblies,  in  the 
streets,  in  offices,  and  at  the  lunch  counter.  It  is 
easily  traceable  from  the  beginning,  at  times  con- 
tracted and  insignificant,  and  again  broadening 
out  till  the  normal  structure  of  society  was  almost 
entirely  replaced  by  the  horrid  growth.  It  was 
seen  at  its  worst  during  the  period  of  the  witch- 
craft delusion,  to  a  less  extent  during  the 
Edwardean  revivals  and  in  the  early  forties,  and 
again  at  the  outbreak  of  the  Spanish  War  and 
through  the  whole  course  of  the  Philippine  opera- 
tions. It  would  not  be  hard  either  to  trace  its 
effect  upon  the  lives  of  individuals,  even  down  to 
the  time  of  Abraham  Lincoln  and  Henry  Ward 
Beecher.  One  of  them  it  slew,  and  the  other  it 
almost  brought  to  the  ground.  Unfortunately,  in 
Beecher's  time  there  was  no  Governor  Winthrop 
in  Plymouth  church,  with  whip  and  cleft  stick. 

The  head  and  front  of  this  revolt  of  the  women 
was  Mrs.  Hutchinson,  "  a  woman  of  ready  wit  and 
bold   spirit,"  and  she  was  allied  with  a  party 


JOHN   WINTHROP  125 

which  almost  rent  the  community  in  twain,  by 
insisting  that  the  person  of  the  Holy  Ghost  dwells 
in  a  justified  person.  To  the  disgust  of  the 
Governor,  meetings  and  conferences  had  to  be 
held.  Mrs.  Hutchinson  at  first  appears  to  have 
had  her  own  way,  though  she  did  make  the 
unwilling  reservation  that  the  indwelling  of  the 
Holy  Ghost  might  not  amount  to  a  personal  union. 
The  heresy  spread ;  more  meetings  were  held,  and 
the  matter  was  concluded  by  a  conference,  "in 
which  there  appeared  some  bitterness  of  speech." 
As  the  speech  stands  before  us,  the  bitterness  is 
apparent,  but  the  sense  is  not,  though  the  last 
sentence  of  the  reported  utterance  contains  126 
words  and  three  sets  of  brackets.  But  the  temper 
of  the  magistrates  was  up.  Mrs.  Hutchinson  was 
arraigned  upon  the  definite  charge  of  alleging 
that  none  of  the  ministers,  save  Mr.  Cotton,  were 
preaching  a  covenant  of  free  grace.  After  "many 
speeches  to  and  fro,  she  could  contain  herself  no 
longer,  but  gave  vent  to  revelations,"  portending 
evil  to  the  young  community.  That  was  her  real 
offence,  and  she  too  was  banished;  but  because 
it  was  the  winter  time,  they  committed  her  to 
a  private  house,  with  permission  only  for  her  own 
friends  and  the  elders  to  visit  her.  Though  the 
opinions  which  she  entertained  do  not  appear  very 


126  ESSAYS   IN    PURITANISM 

dangerous  to  us,  they  may  have  appeared  so  to 
the  persons  who  understood  those  things. 

In  all  these  religious  strivings  we  are  apt  to 
lose  sight  of  the  actual  business  that  was  being 
done  in  New  England ;  but,  fortunately,  we  are  not 
left  without  information  of  the  attitude  of  the 
common  people  towards  the  sea  of  strife  in  which 
the  politico-theologians  were  involved.  The  people 
at  large  are  never  much  concerned  about  anything 
else  than  that  out  of  which  their  livelihood  comes. 

The  movement  of  population  was  most  remark- 
able. Within  six  weeks  in  the  year  1635,  fourteen 
ships  arrived  with  "store  of  passengers  and 
cattle ; "  sloops,  shallops,  and  small  boats  of  all 
kinds  were  passing  from  island  to  island,  with 
mares,  heifers,  goats,  and  sheep;  traders  were 
coming  to  port  with  beaver  skins,  corn  and  hemp, 
sugar,  strong  waters,  tobacco,  and  other  com- 
modities ;  whole  communities,  men,  women,  and 
children,  swine  and  cattle,  were  migrating  in  all 
directions  to  find  new  places  in  which  they  might 
"  sit  down."  Ships  were  built  to  prosecute  the 
whale  and  herring  fishery ;  trade  was  opened  with 
neighbouring  colonies  and  with  Virginia,  the 
West  Indies,  and  the  ports  of  Spain.  Wars  were 
prosecuted  against  the  Indians,  against  one  or 
other  of  the  French  factions  which  claimed  inter- 


JOHN    WINTHROP  127 

est  about  the  Bay  of  Fuiidy,  and  provision  was 
made  against  attack  by  the  Dutch,  the  Spaniards, 
or  England  herself. 

Besides  all  this,  there  were  continual  adven- 
tures by  sea  and  by  land  undertaken  by  adven- 
turous soldiers,  which  betray  anything  else  than 
the  traditional  temper  of  religious  sectaries. 
Thomas  Wanerton  was  "a  stout  man  and  had 
been  a  soldier,  but  for  many  years  he  had  lived 
very  wickedly  in  whoredom,  drunkenness,  and 
quarrelling ;  he  had  of  late  come  under  some  ter- 
rors and  motions  of  the  spirit  by  means  of  the 
preaching  of  the  word,"  but  he  succeeded  in 
shaking  them  off,  and  with  twenty  men  undertook 
an  attack  upon  Penobscot,  which  was  held  by 
D'Aulnay  in  opposition  to  La  Tour.  It  does  not 
matter  what  the  issue  of  the  attack  was,  save  that 
"  there  was  a  knocking  at  the  door  with  swords 
and  pistols  ready,  and  a  great  deal  of  shooting 
backwards  and  forwards." 

Two  new  ships,  the  one  of  250  tons,  built  at 
Cambridge,  the  other  of  200  tons,  built  in  Boston, 
set  sail  for  the  Canaries  on  the  same  day,  laden 
with  pipe-staves  and  fish.  Upon  another  day  five 
ships  sailed  from  Boston,  three  of  them  built  in 
that  port,  two  of  which  were  of  300  tons  burthen. 
The  following  day  a  ship  arrived  from  Teneriffe 


128  ESSAYS  IN  PURITANISM 

with  a  freight  of  wine,  pitch,  sugar,  and  spices, 
and  a  ketch  of  30  tons,  bought  from  the  French, 
which  was  ready  to  sail  for  Trinidad,  blew  up  in 
the  harbour. 

The  first  ship  built  in  Boston  was  the  Trial, 
of  160  tons,  Thomas  Graves,  master,  "  an  able 
and  a  godly  man."  This  small  craft  was  contin- 
ually going  and  coming  to  Bilboa  with  fish ; 
thence  to  Malaga ;  back  to  Boston  with  wine, 
fruit,  oil,  iron,  and  wool ;  then  to  trade  with  La 
Tour,  and  so  along  the  eastern  coast  towards 
Canada.  The  launching  of  this  ship  was  attended 
with  religious  services,  and  Mr.  Cotton  was  in- 
vited to  discourse  before  the  "  divers  godly  sea- 
men "  who  formed  the  crew.  Their  godliness  did 
not  interfere  with  their  enterprise,  for  they  sailed 
to  Fayal,  where  they  found  an  "extraordinary 
good  market"  for  their  stores  and  fish;  there 
they  took  on  board  wine  and  sugar  for  the  West 
Indies,  which  they  exchanged  for  cotton  and 
tobacco  in  the  port  of  Saint  Peter's.  During  their 
stay  they  engaged  in  an  enterprise  of  salvage,  and 
by  the  help  of  a  diving-tub  took  up  forty  guns, 
anchors,  and  cables ;  so  with  some  gold  and  sil- 
ver, which  they  got  by  trade,  they  sailed  away 
for  Boston,  and  through  the  Lord's  blessing,  as 
Winthrop  alleges,  "  they  made  a  good  voyage, 


JOHN   WINTHROP  129 

which  did  much  encourage  the  merchants,  and 
made  wine  and  sugar  and  cotton  very  plentiful 
and  cheap  in  the  country." 

Winthrop's  journal  bears  upon  nearly  every 
page  evidence  of  the  extraordinary  vitality  and 
activity  of  the  young  community.  Ships  were  sail- 
ing from  Salem  and  Providence  to  all  ports  — 
to  the  Dry  Tortugas,  with  "  salt  fish  and  strong 
liquors,  which  are  the  only  commodities  for  those 
parts  "  —  and  bringing  back  cotton,  tobacco,  and 
negroes  in  exchange.  Unless  these  seventeenth 
century  seamen  are  sadly  belied,  they  engaged  in 
other  enterprises  of  more  questionable  morality 
than  the  slave  trade.  It  would  be  as  reasonable 
to  regard  the  New  England  harbours  as  nests 
of  pirates  as  of  religious  fanatics,  though  of  course 
a  man  may  be  a  religious  fanatic  and  a  pirate  too. 

I  shall  relate  but  one  instance  to  illustrate  the 
temper  of  the  men  who  formed  the  front  of  the 
community,  and  appeal  to  any  reasonable  person 
to  say  if  he  thinks  that  the  relation  of  sanctifica- 
tion  to  justification  was  the  dominant  concern  of 
their  lives.  *'  Here  arrived  one  Mr.  Carman,  mas- 
ter of  the  ship  called  [name  omitted],  of  180  tons. 
He  went  from  New  Haven  in  lOber  last,  laden 
with  clap-boards  for  the  Canaries,  being  earnestly 
commended  to  the  Lord's  protection  by  the  church 


130  ESSAYS  IN  PURITANISM 

there.   At  the  Island  of  Palma  he  was  set  upon 
by  a  Turkish  pirate  of  300  tons  and  26  pieces  of 
ordnance  and  200  men ;  he  fought  with  her  for 
three   hours,  having   but   twenty  men  and  but 
7  pieces  of  ordnance  that  he  could  use,  and  his 
muskets  were  unserviceable  with  rust.  The  Turk 
lay  across  his  hawse,  so  as  he  was  forced  to  shoot 
through  his  own  hoodings,  and   by  these   shot 
killed  many  Turks ;  then  the  Turk  lay  by  his  side 
and  boarded  him  with  near  100  men  and  cut  all 
the  ropes,  etc.,  but  his  shot  having  killed  the  cap- 
tain of  the  Turkish  ship  and  broken  his  tiller,  the 
Turk  took  in  his  own  ensign  and  fell  off  from  him, 
but  in  such  haste  as  he  left  about  50  of  his  men 
aboard  ;  then  the  master  and  some  of  his  men  came 
up  and  fought  with  those  50,  hand  to  hand,  and 
slew  so  many  of  them  as  the  rest  leaped  overboard. 
The  master  had  many  wounds  on  his  head  and 
body  and  divers  of  his  men  were  wounded,  yet  but 
one  slain,  so  with  much  difficulty  he  got  to  the 
island  (being  in  view  thereof),  where  he  was  very 
courteously  entertained  and  supplied  with  what- 
soever he  wanted." 

The  passengers  coming  from  England  were  con- 
tinually bringing  money,  and  so  long  as  that  lasted 
trade  prospered.  They  had  left  England  because 
the  posture  of  affairs  in  the  homeland  did  not  suit 


JOHN   WINTHROP  131 

them ;  and  when  at  length  tidings  came  that  the 
Scots  had  entered  England,  that  a  parliament  was 
to  be  called,  and  there  was  a  hope  of  a  thorough 
reformation,  many  began  to  think  of  returning 
home ;  some  did  return  home,  and  certainly  the 
tide  of  immigration  ceased.  At  the  same  time 
there  was  a  failure  of  the  crops ;  Virginia  was 
offering  strong  inducements  to  colonists  and  the 
most  tempting  reports  were  being  received  from 
the  West  Indies.  The  New  England  colony  was 
on  the  verge  of  ruin.  This  was  Winthrop's  hour. 
Ships  no  longer  arrived  with  money  and  commod- 
ities in  exchange  for  the  products  of  the  colony. 
The  quick  market  and  good  profits  were  at  an  end. 
Money  had  disappeared,  as  it  has  a  habit  of  doing 
in  hard  times.  The  price  of  cattle  fell  to  one  half, 
to  a  third,  to  a  fourth.  Corn  would  buy  nothing ; 
merchants  would  sell  no  wares  but  for  ready 
money,  and  prices  of  foreign  goods  were  rising. 
The  country  was  on  the  verge  of  bankruptcy ;  it 
could  not  pay  its  obligations  abroad. 

When  these  difficulties  began  to  be  felt  the 
magistrates  resorted  to  the  usual  expedients. 
They  made  an  order  that  a  musket  bullet  should 
pass  for  a  farthing ;  that  corn  should  pass  at 
a  specified  rate ;  that  carpenters  should  work 
for  a  certain  wage.    The  ministers  applied  their 


132  ESSAYS  IN  PURITANISM 

wisdom  to  the  situation.  Mr.  Cotton  on  the  next 
lecture  day,  laid  it  down  as  a  false  principle  that 
a  man  may  sell  as  dear  and  buy  as  cheap  as  he  can ; 
if  he  lose  by  casualty  at  sea  in  some  of  his  com- 
modities, that  he  may  raise  the  price  of  the  rest ; 
that  he  may  sell  as  he  bought,  though  he  pay  too 
dear  and  though  the  price  of  the  commodity  be 
fallen  in  the  mean  time  ;  that  as  a  man  may  take 
the  advantage  of  his  own  skill  or  ability,  so  he  may 
of  another's  ignorance  or  necessity.  Thereupon 
the  minister  laid  down  the  true  rules  for  trading : 
that  a  man  may  not  sell  above  the  current  prices ; 
when  a  man  loses  in  his  commodity  for  want  of 
skill,  he  must  look  to  it  as  his  own  fault  or  cross, 
and  must  not  lay  it  upon  another ;  when  a  man 
loses  by  calamity  at  sea,  it  is  a  loss  cast  upon 
himself  by  Providence,  and  he  may  not  ease  him- 
self of  it  by  casting  it  upon  another.  This  was 
as  wise  as  most  theories  upon  economics,  but  the 
result  was  the  same :  the  country  was  still  closer 
to  ruin.  The  people  went  so  far  as  to  prosecute 
the  traders,  amongst  whom  was  that  Kaine  who 
figured  so  largely  in  the  "  sow  business." 

This  man  was  made  the  object  of  peculiar  ani- 
mosity, because  "  he  had  been  an  ancient  professor 
of  the  gospel,  a  man  of  eminent  parts,  wealthy, 
and  having  but  one  child,  having  come  over  for 


JOHN  WINTHROP  133 

conscience'  sake  and  for  the  advancement  of  the 
gospel ;  "  this  added  aggravation  to  his  sin  in  the 
judgement  of  all  men  of  understanding ;  yet  most 
of  the  magistrates  acknowledged  clearly  enough 
that  the  deputies  had  gone  too  far ;  because  there 
was  no  law  in  force  to  limit  or  direct  men  to 
appoint  a  profit  in  their  trade ;  because  of  the 
common  practice  in  all  countries  for  men  to  make 
use  of  advantages  for  raising  prices ;  because  a 
certain  rule  could  not  be  found  out  for  an  equal 
rate  between  buyer  and  seller.  There  is  wisdom 
in  that  judgement. 

Governor  Winthrop  took  the  matter  in  hand 
and  discovered  the  true  and  only  device  for  the 
prosperity  of  a  nation  or  an  individual  —  that  is, 
self-dependence.  He  decided  to  build  ships.  He 
allowed  the  artisans  to  go  where  they  did  best, 
"  employing  persuasion  alone  in  a  voluntary 
way."  He  set  the  people  to  work  curing  fish, 
sawing  clap-boards  and  planks,  sowing  hemp  and 
flax,  making  their  own  cotton  from  materials 
obtained  by  exchange  in  the  West  Indies,  breed- 
ing their  own  cattle,  and  practising  economy. 
Through  the  intervention  of  friends  in  England, 
he  had  all  goods  proceeding  to  and  from  the  col- 
ony declared  free ;  by  another  ruling  all  stocks 
employed  in  fishing  were  relieved  from  any  pub- 


134  ESSAYS  IN  PURITANISM 

lie  charge  for  a  period  of  seven  years.  Finally 
he  sent  commissioners  to  England  to  explain  to 
their  creditors  the  true  state  of  affairs,  and  the 
colony  was  saved. 

The  tendency  of  colonists  is  to  become  entirely 
absorbed  in  their  own  local  affairs.  It  was  not 
so  in  New  England.  From  their  first  landing  they 
became  engaged  in  high  politics  of  far-reaching 
effects  ;  and  by  the  wisdom,  insight,  and  modera- 
tion of  their  first  Governor,  they  laid  a  founda- 
tion in  the  world's  history  which  has  never  been 
removed.  Their  conduct  towards  Lord  Sey,  and 
towards  the  Commissioners  who  arrived,  or  whose 
coming  was  threatened  from  England,  was  marked 
by  consummate  wisdom.  In  one  case  they  got 
out  of  their  difficulties  by  proving  that  "  the  com- 
mission itself  stayed  at  the  seal  for  not  paying 
the  fees."  The  King  must  not  be  defrauded. 
This  scrupulosity  for  the  King's  authority  stood 
them  in  good  stead  on  many  occasions,  and  for 
men  so  well  versed  in  the  scriptures  of  the  Old 
Testament  it  was  easy  to  find  a  suitable  answer 
to  the  most  embarrassing  demands.  When  they 
were  in  doubt  as  to  whom  they  should  assist.  La 
Tour  or  D'Aulnay,  in  the  struggle  for  supremacy 
in  the  French  possessions,  they  took  time  to  dis- 
cuss the  line  of  conduct  which  was  pursued  under 


JOHN  WINTHROP  136 

similar  circumstances  by  Jehosheba,  Ahab,  Josiah 
and  Amazia.  By  the  time  they  had  solved  their 
doubts  all  necessity  for  action  had  passed  away. 
In  our  own  day  we  have  seen  the  admirable  re- 
sults of  this  subtle  method  of  diplomacy. 

When  trouble  arose  with  the  Dutch  of  New 
Netherland,  and  an  ultimatum  was  received, 
either  the  day  was  too  wet  to  consider  it,  or  the 
magistrates  were  not  at  home,  or  the  matter 
would  have  to  be  referred  to  a  general  court; 
so,  meanwhile,  the  Governor  would  write  in  his 
own  name,  giving  his  own  private  views,  being 
compelled  thereto  by  the  unfortunate  circum- 
stances of  the  case,  and  "his  answer  for  the 
present  must  be  rather  a  declaration  of  his  own 
conceptions,  than  the  determination  of  their 
chiefest  authority,  from  which  they  would  receive 
further  answer  in  time  convenient."  In  the  mean 
time  the  Governor  would  declare  his  grief  over 
the  difficulties  between  them,  which  might  be 
composed  by  arbiters  in  England,  or  Holland,  or 
elsewhere  ;  the  difference  was  so  small  that  it 
was  not  worth  considering  in  view  of  their  past 
amity  and  correspondence,  nor  worthy  to  cause  a 
breach  between  two  peoples  so  nearly  related  and 
in  possession  of  the  Protestant  religion  ;  and  if 
the  matter  should  be  decided  against  the  Dutch, 


136  ESSAYS  IN  PURITANISM 

as  it  probably  would  be,  they,  being  a  God-fear- 
ino-  people,  would  see  the  wisdom  of  it  and  refrain 
from  following  in  an  unrighteous  course.  Also, 
but  always  in  the  mean  time,  the  Governor  would 
take  occasion  to  remind  the  Dutch  of  a  claim  for 
forty  pounds  which  a  godly  seaman  of  Piscat  had 
against  them  for  having  fired  upon  him  and  com- 
pelled him  to  weigh  anchor,  and  that  upon  the 
Lord's  Day.  There  is  only  one  person  known  to 
modern  history,  and  that  a  Dutchman,  who  could 
frame  a  suitable  rejoinder  to  such  a  letter  as 
that. 

If  Governor  Winthrop  were  known  to  us  merely 
as  the  leader  of  that  colony  which  overshadowed 
all  New  England,  as  the  only  statesman  who  ever 
granted,  without  prejudice,  constitutional  govern- 
ment to  a  people  whom  he  was  entitled  to  rule,  and 
did  rule  until  the  time  came,  with  justice  and 
humanity  and  wisdom,  it  would  be  easy  to  mark 
his  proper  place  in  history.  But  he  had  to  descend 
to  the  smallest  affairs  of  village  life  and  perform 
duties  which  are  usually  left  to  the  curate  or 
minister,  the  schoolmaster,  the  constable,  or  the 
meanest  police  magistrate.  To  many  persons  he  is 
known  only  by  his  performance  of  these  trivial 
functions. 

Being  without  a  body  of  laws,  without  any 


JOHN  WINTHROP  137 

defined  responsibility,  or  any  real  notion  of  his 
rights  and  privileges  in  relation  to  the  other  ele- 
ments in  the  community,  Winthrop  was  compelled 
by  necessity  to  adjudge  specifically  every  manner 
of  oJBPence,  from  excessive  adornment  of  the  per- 
son, the  intemperate  use  of  alcohol  and  tobacco, 
desertion  from  service,  seditious  speeches  in  pri- 
vate and  public,  to  the  weightier  matter  of  English 
jealousy  and  Dutch  intrigue.  It  is  quite  true  that 
his  estimation  of  the  relative  heinousness  of  crime 
was  at  variance  with  our  notions  of  jurisprudence, 
and  that  his  judgements  were  drawn  aside  by  his 
religious  nature  and  his  abhorrence  of  sin.  For 
example,  he  had  before  him  two  men  who  had 
committed  an  offence  arising  out  of  a  mutual 
though  perverted  regard  for  each  other.  The 
animus  of  the  prosecution  seems  to  have  been 
directed  less  against  the  crime  itself  than  against 
the  fact  that  it  had  been  committed  "  on  the  Lord's 
Day,  and  that  in  time  of  public  service."  A  ser- 
vant, "a  very  profane  fellow  given  to  cursing, 
etc.,  did  use  to  go  out  of  the  assembly  upon  the 
Lord's  Day  to  rob  his  master ;  "  being  threatened 
with  an  appearance  before  the  magistrates,  he  was 
far-sighted  enough  to  go  and  hang  himself. 

Taking  into  account  the  barbarity  of  the  Eng- 
lish law,  in  which  Winthrop  had  been  trained,  the 


138  ESSAYS  IN  PURITANISM 

worst  of  the  punishments  which  he  inflicted  were 
humane,  merciful,  and  reasonable,  and  usually 
were  awarded  with  good  sense.  One  godly  minis- 
ter, for  example,  upon  conscience  of  his  oath  and 
care  of  the  commonweal,  discovered  to  the  magis- 
trates some  seditious  speeches  of  his  own  son,  de- 
livered to  himself  in  private.  The  magistrates  did 
not  think  it  proper  to  take  notice  of  the  charge, 
being  loath  to  have  the  father  come  out  in  public 
as  the  accuser  of  his  son,  so  they  had  resort  to  the 
rather  indirect  method  of  seeking  out  other  and 
more  easily  proven  charges  against  the  boy.  In- 
deed, Winthrop  was  often  brought  to  task  for  his 
leniency,  and  was  convinced  "  that  it  was  so."  He 
promised  "that  he  would  endeavour,  by  God's 
assistance,  to  take  a  more  strict  course,  whereupon 
there  was  renewal  of  love  "  between  him  and  his 
advisers. 

The  domestic  servants  had  to  be  dealt  with,  for 
they  were  a  source  of  annoyance  then  as  now. 
One  troublesome  fellow  was  merely  "  put  in  mind 
of  hell,  but  he  made  no  amendment,  and  shortly 
suffered  a  manifest  judgement  of  God,  by  being 
drowned."  In  these  days,  it  would  appear  as  if 
the  loss  of  a  servant  were  a  judgement  which  was 
manifest  upon  the  master.  At  another  court  "  a 
young  fellow  was  whipped  for  soliciting  an  Indian 


JOHN  WINTHROP  139 

squaw  to  incontinency  ;  she  and  her  husband  were 
present  at  the  execution,  and  professed  themselves 
to  be  well  satisfied."  The  following  year,  a  trader 
in  Watertown  was  convicted  for  selling  a  pistol 
to  an  Indian ;  he  was  whipped  and  branded  on  the 
cheek.  The  persons  who  were  whipped  were 
almost  invariably  menials,  and  whipping  was  a 
common  method  of  remonstrance  against  their 
misdoings  in  many  well-ordered  families.  It  ill 
becomes  us  to  set  up  our  opinion  upon  the  manage- 
ment of  servants,  seeing  the  pass  to  which  we  our- 
selves have  been  brought  by  the  abandonment  of 
that  salutary  practice. 

Justice,  indeed,  was  often  tempered  by  worldly 
wisdom.  Captain  John  Stone,  though  a  most 
troublesome  individual,  was  a  stout  soldier.  He 
carried  himself  dissolutely  and  was  finally  taken 
in  adultery ;  his  punishment  was  a  fine,  which 
was  not  levied,  and  the  woman  was  bound  to  her 
good  behaviour.  At  the  same  time  a  luckless  in- 
dividual, named  Cole,  was  condemned  to  wear  a 
red  D  about  his  neck  for  the  unaggravated  offence 
of  drunkenness.  The  practice  of  adultery  was  one 
which  gave  great  trouble  to  the  magistrates,  and 
from  Winthrop's  account  it  would  appear  as  if 
Samuel  Johnson's  conclusion  had  some  foundation 
in  fact,  that  the  disorder  is  as  common  amongst 


140  ESSAYS   IN  PURITANISM 

farmers  as  amongst  noblemen.  In  Captain  Under- 
hill's  case  it  was  looked  upon  as  a  frailty  ;  in  the 
case  of  three  other  persons  who  were  then  in 
prison,  a  point  of  legal  niceness  arose  as  to  the 
constitutionality  of  the  scriptural  practice.  How- 
ever, "  it  was  thought  safest  that  they  should  be 
whipped  and  banished,"  probably  a  satisfactory 
issue  to  the  case.  The  misconduct  of  Stephen 
Batcheller  was  unmistakeably  heinous,  for  he  was 
pastor  of  the  church  at  Hampton  ;  he  had  suffered 
much  at  the  hands  of  the  bishops  in  England ;  he 
was  about  eighty  years  of  age,  and  "  had  a  lusty 
comely  woman  to  his  wife,  yet  he  did  solicit  the 
chastity  of  his  neighbour's  wife,  who  acquainted 
her  husband  therewith."  The  whole  case  is  very 
painful.  The  pastor  of  Dover  also  fell  into  a 
similar  unfortunate  situation,  but  it  is  always 
difficult  to  arrive  at  the  facts  of  an  affair  between 
the  pastor  and  a  widow  of  his  flock.  The  case  of 
James  Britton  and  Mary  Latham,  both  of  whom 
suffered  death,  is  well  known.  Their  conduct 
certainly  was  shameless. 

This  Captain  Underbill  was  a  turbulent  per- 
son. He  was  continually  under  censure  for  his  un- 
seemliness of  conduct,  his  looseness  of  behaviour, 
and  incautious  carriage,  and  as  often  repenting 
and   promising   amendment;  "yet   all  his  con- 


JOHN  WINTHROP  141 

fesslons  were  mixed  with  excuses  and  extenua- 
tions, and  he  was  cast  out  of  the  church ;  whilst 
he  remained  in  Boston  he  was  very  much  dejected, 
but  being  gone  home  again,  he  soon  recovered 
his  spirits  and  gave  not  that  proof  of  a  broken 
heart  as  was  hoped  for."  He  must  have  been 
a  proper  rake  indeed,  for  we  find  him  "  charged 
by  a  godly  young  woman  to  have  solicited  her 
chastity  under  pretence  of  Christian  love ; "  yet 
he  was  elected  Governor  of  Piscat,  and  committed 
one  of  his  fellow  magistrates  to  prison  for  declar- 
ing that  he  would  not  sit  with  an  adulterer.  In 
the  end,  however,  by  the  blessing  of  God  upon 
the  excommunication,  the  captain  came  before 
the  church,  "  in  his  worst  clothes,  being  accus- 
tomed to  take  great  pride  in  his  bravery  and 
neatness,  without  a  band,  in  a  foul  linen  cap 
pulled  close  to  his  eyes,  and  standing  on  a  bench 
he  did  with  abundance  of  tears  lay  open  his 
wicked  course."  If  the  remainder  of  his  oration 
is  correctly  reported,  he  must  have  been  a  pro- 
found theologian,  for  Winthrop  commends  his 
doctrine  of  sin,  "  save  for  his  blubbering,  etc." 
It  is  questionable  if  his  amendment  was  sincere, 
for  we  come  upon  his  tracks  for  years  afterwards 
in  strange  places  for  a  man  of  a  humble  and  con- 
trite spirit. 


142  ESSAYS  IN  PURITANISM 

I  have  said  that  the  colonists  were  cast  up  in 
a  new  world,  without  laws  or  traditions  for  regu- 
lating the  affairs  of  church,  state,  or  society  at 
large,  and  contrary  to  belief  there  was  a  consider- 
able number  of  vicious  persons  who  required  the 
strongest  measures  to  compel  them  to  conform  to 
the  ordinary  usages  of  civilized  men.  It  is  the 
pressure  of  public  opinion  alone  which  prevents 
the  average  man  from  adopting  the  habits  of 
a  beast.  We  all  know  what  went  on  in  the  days 
of  the  early  adventurers  to  Canada,  when  it  was 
looked  upon  as  a  noble  act  of  self-abnegation  for 
a  trader  to  possess  only  one  wife  in  each  village. 
We  also  know  the  means  which  were  required  in 
the  Western  mining  communities,  not  so  very 
long  ago  either,  to  restrain  the  more  unsocial 
vices.  The  authorities  in  New  England  had  the 
same  difficulties  to  face.  There  was  amongst  the 
colonists  a  large  number  of  male  house -servants, 
a  class  which  has  been  in  possession  of  special 
vices  from  the  time  of  Pliny  until  now.  Gov- 
ernor Winthrop  had  no  hesitation  in  referring 
to  their  habits ;  he  had  as  little  hesitation  in 
applying  the  correction,  the  rope  and  the  whij), 
two  incitements  to  decency,  which  are  by  no  means 
to  be  despised. 

The  vice  of  drunkenness  was  not  common,  and 


JOHN  WINTHROP  143 

as  such  was  not  dealt  with,  save  that  a  general 
court  put  itself  on  record  by  making  an  order  to 
abolish  the  custom  of  drinking  healths,  on  the 
ground  that  it  was  a  thing  of  no  good  use,  that 
it  was  an  inducement  to  drunkenness,  and  occa- 
sion of  quarrelling  and  bloodshed,  that  it  occa- 
sioned much  waste  of  wine  and  beer,  that  it  was 
troublesome  to  many,  especially  to  masters  and 
mistresses  of  feasts,  who  were  forced  to  drink 
more  often  than  they  would. 

There  were,  of  course,  many  instances  of  drink 
being  associated  with  disorders.  A  troublesome 
business  arose  in  Boston  over  its  effects.  A  ship 
arrived  from  Portuo:al  and  left  behind  two  Eno^- 
lishmen.  According  to  the  inalienable  right  of 
his  race,  one  of  them  became  "  proper  drunk," 
and  was  carried  to  his  lodging.  The  constable, 
"a  godly  man  and  zealous  against  such  disor- 
ders," took  him  from  his  bed  and  placed  him  in 
the  stocks.  A  Frenchman  of  the  entourage  of  La 
Tour,  who  was  then  in  the  town,  was  passing  that 
way  and  released  the  prisoner.  The  constable 
sought  out  the  Frenchman,  and  "  would  needs 
carry  him  to  the  stocks,"  but  he  refused  and  drew 
his  sword,  at  the  same  time  protesting  his  willing- 
ness to  go  to  prison,  but  not  to  submit  to  the 
indignity  of  public  exposure.    He  was  disarmed, 


144  ESSAYS  IN  PURITANISM 

and  with  a  curious  reversal  of  procedure,  he  was 
first  set  in  the  stocks,  then  as  if  to  meet  his  for- 
eign scruples,  he  was  taken  to  prison,  and  finally 
was  brought  before  La  Tour.  The  magistrates 
"  admonished  the  constable  in  private  for  having 
without  warrant  or  authority  taken  a  man  out  of 
his  bed,  and  in  the  second  place  for  not  setting 
a  hook  upon  the  stocks."  With  their  usual  com- 
mon sense,  they  would  lay  nothing  to  his  charge 
before  the  assembly,  but  Winthrop  in  his  private 
journal  expresses  the  necessity  of  upholding  the 
authority  of  the  magistrates,  and  refers  bitterly 
to  these  "  last  fruits  of  ignorant  and  misguided 
zeal."  The  sailors  who  came  into  those  ports 
would  appear  to  have  behaved  in  accordance  with 
the  habits  of  their  time  and  the  tradition  of  their 
race,  and  Winthrop  found  a  melancholy  satisfac- 
tion in  recording  the  disasters  by  which  they 
were  overtaken.  But  as  nearly  all  the  mariners 
of  that  time  came  to  an  untimely  end,  it  does  not 
appear  that  vengeance  followed  them  specifically 
for  the  deeds  of  drunkenness,  quarrelling,  and 
evil  speaking  which  are  recorded  against  them. 

The  thing  that  seems  intolerable  to  us  in  Win- 
throp's  conduct  is  his  punishment  of  men  and 
women  for  their  opinions.  The  Governor  of  New 
England  was  quite  frank  about  the  matter.    He 


JOHN  WINTHROP  145 

thought  it  entirely  proper  that  if  a  person  uttered 
opinions  which  were  dangerous  to  the  community 
he  should  be  punished  for  it.  In  this  the  Governor 
was  right :  "  the  government  must  be  carried  on." 
But  the  punishments  inflicted  for  political  offences 
were  not  numerous — perhaps  a  dozen  in  the  twenty 
years  of  Winthrop's  influence.  Henry  Lincoln  was 
whipped  and  banished  for  writing  letters  to  Eng- 
land. We  do  not  know  what  he  wrote  ;  but  even 
if  he  wrote  only  the  truth,  he  may  have  deserved 
what  he  got.  It  is  not  an  inalienable  right  of  a 
citizen  always  to  tell  the  truth  about  his  country 
to  his  country's  enemies,  and  England  as  a  whole 
was  an  enemy  to  the  colony  at  that  time.  Major 
Andre  was  not  allowed  the  opportunity  of  "  writ- 
ing letters  into  England."  In  New  England,  for 
the  time  being,  the  church  and  state  and  court 
were  united  into  a  trinity  in  which  the  personality 
of  each  could  not  be  distinguished,  so  rebellion 
against  one  was  an  attack  upon  all  three.  In 
these  days,  one  who  speaks  against  the  church 
may  be  a  harmless  fool  or  a  sincere  reformer, 
neither  of  whom  should  be  interfered  with ;  one 
who  rails  against  the  court  is  liable  to  find  him- 
self in  gaol,  and  it  does  not  require  a  traitor's 
ghost  to  come  back  to  tell  us  what  will  happen  to 
those  who  plot  against  their  country. 


146  ESSAYS  IN  PURITANISM 

As  late  as  the  second  session  of  the  Fifty- 
Seventh  Congress  of  the  United  States,  held  in 
the  present  century,  which  is  yet  comparatively 
young,  an  enactment  was  made  commencing  in 
these  terms :  "  No  person  who  disbelieves  in.'*  It 
does  not  matter  for  our  argument  what  is  the  sub- 
ject of  belief  or  disbelief ;  in  this  case  it  is  disbelief 
in  all  organized  government,  or  affiliation  with 
any  organization  entertaining  or  teaching  such 
disbelief.  The  legislators  of  Massachusetts  are 
separated  from  the  legislators  of  the  United  States 
by  the  distance  and  events  of  three  hundred  years. 
Their  attitude  toward  this  question  of  belief  is 
identical.  The  court  of  Massachusetts  under  Win- 
throp  punished  men  and  women  by  banishment 
and  by  whipping,  not  for  the  contrariety  of  their 
opinions,  but  because  their  speech  and  conduct 
made  government  difficult,  and  in  the  judgement 
of  the  magistrates  tended  to  make  it  impossible. 

Of  course,  no  one  would  think  of  going  to  the 
Fifty-Seventh  Congress  as  the  ultimate  lair  of 
political  wisdom.  It  is  not  pretended  that  their 
enactment  was  abstractly  right ;  but  government 
has  never  yet  been  carried  on,  and  never  will  be 
carried  on,  by  an  adherence  to  abstract  principles, 
even  if  those  principles  could  be  discovered.  The 
law  in  question  will  not  be  enforced,  because  the 


JOHN  WINTHROP  147 

common  sense  and  conscience  of  the  people  will 
not  permit  it.  In  tlie  early  days  the  people  had 
less  experience  and  more  conscience,  a  phenome- 
non which  is  common  enough,  and  they  did  en- 
force similar  laws.  But  they  laid  a  foundation  of 
government  upon  obedience  and  order,  so  that 
their  descendants  can  afford  to  neglect  opinions 
which  seem  for  the  time  being  to  be  contrary  to 
common  sense,  until  it  is  fully  proven  that  they 
are  not  so.  Then  we  shall  have  sense  enough  to 
adopt  them.  Carlyle  was  wrong.  The  folly  of  the 
fools  is  more  precious  than  the  wisdom  of  the 
doctrinaires,  for  purposes  of  government. 

The  fascination  which  one  finds  in  a  study  of 
the  men  and  events  of  early  New  England  is  akin 
to  that  which  a  naturalist  feels  in  watching  the 
growth  of  an  organism  in  vitro  :  it  is  so  small,  so 
simple,  and  the  growth  is  so  rapid.  Every  element 
in  a  national  life  is  seen  in  the  colony,  but  all  is 
in  miniature.  Questions  of  free  trade,  of  currency, 
of  exports  and  imports,  of  the  inter-relations  of 
governor,  magistrates,  deputies,  and  voters,  of  the 
balance  between  church  and  state,  are  all  working 
themselves  out  to  their  inevitable  conclusions  ;  and 
above  all  there  is  the  spectacle  of  men  and  women 
leading  a  life  of  intense  activity,  as  if  one  were 
observing  a  swarm  of  bees  at  work  within  a  hive 


148  ESSAYS  IN  PURITANISM 

of  glass,  and  over  this  activity  a  wisely  guiding 
mind. 

The  same  problems  which  still  perplex  eighty 
millions  of  people  perplexed  that  little  colony,  and 
it  is  easy  to  discover  the  revelation  which  they 
made  of  themselves  in  dealing  with  those  pro- 
blems. The  stage  was  so  small,  the  actors  so  few 
and  their  parts  so  distinct,  if  one  may  employ 
a  profane  simile  in  connection  with  so  serious  a 
subject,  that  we  have  no  difficulty  in  comprehend- 
ing the  slightest  detail  of  the  little  national  life, 
and  the  finest  characteristics  of  its  governor. 

Governor  Winthrop  himself  was  tender  of  con- 
science, and  those  whom  he  had  to  govern  were  ten- 
der of  conscience,  too ;  that  is,  he  disliked  doing 
what  he  thought  was  wrong ;  and  his  people  also  dis- 
liked doing  what  they  thought  was  wrong.  There 
are  always  opposing  views  of  right,  and  that  is 
what  makes  government  difficult  in  a  free  country. 
Government  is  always  easy  when  one  party  is  will- 
ing to  submit  to  what  it  believes  to  be  wrong, 
without  bothering  about  it.  That  is  what  makes 
government  easy  in  the  United  States  to-day.  A 
man  may  ease  his  conscience  by  the  subterfuge 
that  his  whole  duty  is  performed  in  submitting  to 
the  law,  even  if  he  think  that  law  is  wrong ;  but 
in  New  England  that  poor  excuse  was  denied  be- 


JOHN  WINTHROP  149 

cause  there  was  no  law.    The  conscience  had  free 
play. 

What  TVinthrop  undertook  to  do  he  failed  in 
doing.  He  demonstrated  by  his  failure  that  an 
identity  of  church  and  state  is  intolerable  to  free 
men,  and  that  the  domain  of  religion  lies  entirely 
beyond  the  reach  of  human  authority.  Cromwell, 
by  his  failure,  made  the  same  demonstration  in 
England,  but  he  died  before  he  had  found  a  bet- 
ter way.  Every  one  admits  that  it  is  possible  to 
attain  to  a  union  of  the  spirit  of  man  with  the 
spirit  of  God,  to  a  newness  of  life,  to  a  fresh  con- 
ception of  the  heinousness  of  sin,  and  to  a  know- 
ledge or  assurance  that  evil  can  be  transformed 
into  good.  No  one  now  pretends  to  say  how  that 
state  of  affairs  comes  about  —  whether  it  has  its 
origin  in  some  movement  of  the  will  of  God  from 
all  eternity,  or  whether  the  act  of  volition  may  be 
initiated  in  the  man  himself  —  but  all  agree  that 
it  is  arrived  at  only  by  great  strivings  of  spirit, 
and  not  by  human  authority.  It  is  in  virtue  of 
this  struggle  after  perfection  alone  that  John 
Winthrop  and  those  exiled  Puritans  attained  to 
greatness. 


Ill 

MARGARET   FULLER 


MARGARET   FULLER 

The  literary  history  of  the  United  States  is  full 
of  enigmas,  which  are  unsolved  to  this  day,  be- 
cause we  have  no  contemporary  criticism  of  any 
value  to  guide  us.  All  just  appreciation  is  lost 
in  the  adulation  of  friends  and  the  calumny  of 
enemies.  There  has  always  been  a  lack  of  that 
balanced  judgement,  which  gives  us  so  accurate 
a  notion  of  French  and  English  writers  of  a  time 
even  much  anterior  to  that  of  which  we  are  about 
to  speak.  George  Sand  we  know,  George  Eliot 
we  know,  but  what  manner  of  person  was  Mar- 
garet Fuller  ? 

The  case  is  the  more  difficult,  inasmuch  as  it 
concerns  a  woman.  A  man  can  know  very  little 
about  a  woman,  even  under  circumstances  the 
most  favourable  for  procuring  knowledge.  Lord 
Byron  admitted  that  much ;  and  he  is  generally 
accredited  with  diligence  in  pursuing  all  paths 
which  might  lead  to  information,  and  employing 
every  means  that  might  minister  to  his  curiosity. 

One  who  writes  anything  worth  reading  is 
bound  to  find  dissenters,  but  the  worst  foes  of 


154  ESSAYS  IN  PURITANISM 

a  literary  person  are  those  of  his  own  household. 
All  that  is  required  for  the  hasty  condemnation 
of  any  one  is  the  publication  of  everything  which 
is  publicly  known,  told  secretly,  or  imperfectly 
remembered.  We  know  how  the  Carlyles  and 
Ruskins  suffered ;  but  Margaret  Fuller  suffered 
worst  of  all,  because  her  friends  were  so  highly 
endowed  with  folly.  Malice  is  powerless  to  bring 
down  a  reputation  ;  silliness  will  lay  it  in  the  dust. 

This  "  gifted  woman  " —  it  is  well,  at  once,  to 
commence  using  the  epithets  of  her  biographers  — 
save  for  a  little  published  criticism  which  now 
seems  obvious  enough,  left  not  behind  her  the 
expression  of  a  single  thought  which  is  essentially 
worth  remembering.  Yet  her  friends  have  aspired 
to  set  her  in  a  place  above  Elizabeth  Barrett 
Browning,  above  the  two  Georges,  Sand  and 
Eliot ;  they  have  brought  her  lower  than  Mary 
Baker  Eddy.  After  the  manner  of  all  foolish  dis- 
ciples, they  have  so  distorted  the  object  of  their 
worship  that  it  is  now  difficult  to  see  her  as  she 
was.  That  is  why  the  personality  of  Margaret 
Fuller  is  an  enigma. 

There  are  two  methods  of  writing  biography, 
the  exhaustive  and  selective.  In  the  one  case, 
everything  that  is  known  or  surmised  is  reported 
with  indiscriminating  fidelity ;  in  the  other,  the 


MARGARET  FULLER  155 

facts,  surmises,  and  probabilities  are  taken  as  a 
whole  and  duly  considered.  The  writer  himself 
forms  an  image  and  presents  it  as  a  true  epitome, 
after  the  manner  of  any  artist.  At  first  sight  it 
would  appear  that  if  we  had  all  contemporary 
knowledge  of  individuals,  we  should  know  them  as 
they  are  ;  but  this  is  not  so.  We  have  to  create 
the  image  for  ourselves,  and  it  will  be  coloured 
by  the  insistence  which  we  place  upon  this  fact 
or  upon  that.  But,  after  all,  the  manifestations  of 
the  individual  life  are  too  elusive  to  be  caught 
and  transmitted  in  any  such  rough  fashion,  even 
if  we  admit  the  utmost  good  faith  on  the  part  of 
the  reporters  ;  and  that  is  an  admission  which  we 
are  not  always  justified  in  making. 

Margaret  Fuller's  life  has  been  treated  in  this 
exhaustive  way.  The  hysterical  vagaries  of  her 
childhood,  the  follies  of  her  over-mature  youth, 
the  absurdness  of  her  young  womanhood,  are  all 
preserved  to  us  by  writers  little  less  hysterical 
and  quite  as  absurd  as  herself.  This  mass  of 
pseudo-information  is  contained  in  five  bulky  vol- 
umes of  printed  and  written  material,  in  volumes 
of  letters  to  and  from  notable  persons  of  the 
time,  in  diaries,  numerous  and  minute,  and  in 
reminiscences  by  every  one  who  might  remember 
anything.     These  reminiscences,  however,   were 


156  ESSAYS   IN   PURITANISM 

written  for  the  most  part  at  a  time  when  their 
authors'  memories  had  failed,  and  they  spent  a 
great  deal  of  labour  in  remembering  very  unim- 
portant things. 

This  raw  material  has  been  handled  over  and 
over  again :  in  earlier  days  by  James  Freeman 
Clarke,  William  Henry  Channing  — cousin  of 
one  William  EUery  and  nephew  of  the  other.  It 
may  be  necessary  to  remind  this  generation  that 
Clarke  was  founder  of  the  Church  of  the  Disciples 
at  Boston  in  1841,  and  pastor  of  the  flock  till  his 
death ;  that  Channing  was  close  to  the  formula- 
tors  of  American  Unitarianism,  and  allied  with 
the  Fuller  family,  his  cousin  Ellery  having  mar- 
ried Ellen,  the  sister  of  Margaret.  Neither  was 
Emerson  himself  wholly  free  from  blame.  At  a 
later  date,  Julia  Ward  Howe,  herself  an  important 
personage  in  New  England,  became  Miss  Fuller's 
formal  biographer,  and  still  later,  Mr.  Higginson, 
whose  appreciation  is  in  some  degree  tempered 
by  a  just  criticism. 

Two  or  three  illustrations  will  serve  to  show 
what  kind  of  doctrine  we  are  likely  to  expect 
from  these  biographers.  In  striving  for  an  ex- 
planation of  Miss  Fuller's  authority,  Mrs.  Howe 
never  got  beyond  asking  the  question  :  "  What 
imperial  power  had  this  self-poised  soul,  which 


MARGARET  FULLER  157 

could  lead  in  its  train  the  brightest  and  purest 
intelligences,  and  bind  the  sweet  influence  of 
starry  souls  in  the  garland  of  its  happy  bowers  ?  " 
The  present  writer  does  not  know.  Again,  when 
Miss  Fuller  was  passing  through  the  stage  com- 
mon to  all  young  ladies,  and  desired  to  protest 
her  resolution  to  remain  in  the  unwedded  state, 
she  expressed  herself  after  this  manner :  "  My 
pride  is  superior  to  any  feelings  I  have  yet  ex- 
perienced, my  affection  is  strong  admiration,  not 
the  necessity  of  giving  or  receiving  assistance  or 
sympathy."  In  this  innocent  remark  Mrs.  Howe 
finds  proof  that  "  she  acknowledges  the  insuffi- 
ciency of  human  knowledge,  bows  her  imperial 
head,  and  confesses  herself  human."  Thirdly, 
when  Mr.  Higginson  is  describing  the  diverse 
elements  present  at  the  inception  of  that  strange 
literary  product,  the  "  Dial,"  he  refers  to  it  as 
an  "  alembic  within  which  they  were  all  distilled, 
and  the  priestess  who  superintended  this  intellec- 
tual chemic  process  happened  to  be  Margaret 
Fuller."  All  this  time,  he  admits,  he  had  in  his 
possession  documents  pertaining  to  an  early  love 
affair,  which,  if  published,  as  they  have  since 
been,  "  would  bring  her  nearer  to  us,  by  proving 
that  she  with  all  her  Roman  ambition  was  still 
a  woman  at  heart."    If  Margaret  Fuller  be  treated 


158  ESSAYS   IN  PURITANISM 

as  an  imperial  being,  who  only  in  a  mood  of  self- 
depreciation,  or  in  a  moment  of  magnanimity 
bows  her  head  and  confesses  herself  human ;  if 
she  be  looked  upon  as  a  Roman  priestess  superin- 
tending a  chemical  process  going  on  in  an  alem- 
bic, or  as  a  "  rapt  sylph  "  —  this  was  Bronson 
Alcott's  view,  expressed  in  sonnet  form,  as  if  she 
were  a  Sixth  Avenue  seer  —  we  shall  never  get 
much  further. 

If,  however,  she  be  considered  merely  as  a 
woman,  we  may  get  some  light  upon  her  person- 
ality ;  but  if  this  matter  be  too  high  for  us,  cer- 
tainly we  shall  get  some  light  upon  the  person- 
ality of  that  strange  group  which  has  written  it- 
self down  as  her  friends.  They  all  lived  together 
during  a  period  of  folly,  it  is  true ;  but  that  is 
not  the  whole  matter.  A  New  England  prophet 
has  always  had  the  most  honour  in  his  own  coun- 
try, amongst  his  own  kin ;  and,  contrary  to  the 
observation  of  Emerson,  the  ship  from  a  Massa- 
chusetts port  has  ever  been  more  romantic  to  its 
own  passengers  than  any  other  which  sailed  the 
high  seas. 

At  any  rate,  Margaret  Fuller  was  an  interest- 
ing personage,  interesting  even  yet,  and  we  shall 
first  show  forth  fully  the  presentation  her  bio- 
graphers make,  before  enquiring  what  manner  of 


MARGARET  FULLER  159 

woman  she  really  was.  Mrs.  Howe  protests  that 
"  to  surpass  the  works  of  Clarke,  Emerson,  and 
Channing  is  not  to  be  thought  of ;  "  but  she  has 
surpassed  them  and  made  their  "  precious  remi- 
niscences "  more  precious  still.  She  found  ready 
to  her  hand  a  most  unfortunate  document,  namely, 
the  introductory  chapter  to  an  autobiographical 
romance,  entitled  "  Marianna,"  written  by  Mar- 
garet Fuller  herself,  which  was  seized  upon  and 
dealt  with  as  authentic  history.  It  deals  with  her 
childhood,  and  when  elevated  out  of  its  proper 
place,  conveys  an  impression  of  the  individual 
which  is  totally  wrong.  Few  men,  and  fewer 
women,  could  desire  that  the  vagaries  of  their 
childhood  should  be  remembered  against  them. 
Even  the  sick-bed  delirium  of  the  neurotic  child 
is  preserved  for  our  admiration.  As  delirium  it 
is  excellent,  as  biography  it  is  misleading. 

Margaret  Fuller  was  a  neurotic  child  and  suf- 
fered from  actual  hysteria.  Ideas  controlled  her 
body,  and  as  the  ideas  of  a  child  are  of  the 
slightest  fabric,  it  may  be  imagined  what  that 
control  amounted  to.  In  the  children  of  New 
England  from  the  earliest  time  there  has  been 
a  streak  of  hysteria  which  has  occasionally  broad- 
ened out  into  a  dark  pool  of  human  misery  and 
deception. 


160  ESSAYS  IN  PURITANISM 

At  nine  years  of  age  the  little  Margaret  was 
sent  to  school  in  Groton,  where  she  amused  and 
tormented  teachers  and  pupils  by  her  fantastic 
freaks.  In  return  they  perpetrated  a  bit  of  plea- 
santry upon  her,  with  the  result  that  she  went  to 
her  room,  locked  the  door,  and  fell  into  convul- 
sions. Quite  naturally  for  a  child  in  her  condi- 
tion, she  "did  not  disdain  to  employ  misrepre- 
sentation to  regain  the  superiority  in  which  she 
delighted,"  and  when  convicted,  "  she  threw  her- 
self down,  dashed  her  head  upon  the  iron  hearth, 
and  was  taken  up  senseless."  Old  Judge  Stough- 
ton  of  Salem  thought  he  understood  the  import 
of  such  manifestations. 

No  wonder  the  child's  character  "  somewhat 
puzzled  her  teacher ; "  it  has  misled  her  bio- 
graphers too,  and  will  be  certain  to  puzzle  them 
till  the  essential  nature  of  hysteria  is  disclosed. 
They  should  not  have  been  puzzled.  By  heredity 
the  child  was  endowed  with  a  nervous  organiza- 
tion, mobile  and  abnormally  sensitive,  and  her 
environment  was  not  peculiarly  suited  to  her 
temperament.  All  of  her  paternal  relations  were 
eccentric,  some  of  them  were  of  unstable  will, 
and  she  herself  was  accredited  with  genius.  The 
Puritan  girl  has  ever  been  a  pitiable  and  tragic 
figure.    The  child's  education  could  not  have  been 


MARGARET  FULLER  161 

worse  devised.  Timothy  Fuller,  her  father,  was 
a  lawyer,  politician,  and  son  of  a  country  clergy- 
man, bred  in  the  Harvard  of  those  days,  absorbed 
in  the  interest  and  business  of  his  profession,  "  in- 
tent upon  compassing  the  support  of  his  family," 
all  of  which  proves  his  incapacity  as  educator  of 
his  own  child.  The  mother  is  described  as  "  one 
of  those  fair  flower-like  natures,"  which  abounded 
in  the  early  days.  These  pilgrim  mothers  doubt- 
less had  their  own  trials.  Had  the  management 
of  the  child  been  left  to  her,  we  might  have 
escaped  all  this  pathological  record  of  hysteria. 
The  incapacity  of  every  father  is  now,  I  believe, 
a  subject  of  free  and  frequent  comment  in  the 
domestic  circle  ;  in  those  days  the  father's  wisdom 
and  authority  went  unquestioned. 

The  child's  surroundings,  we  are  told,  were 
devoid  of  artistic  luxury,  and  that  was  quite 
proper,  if  these  surroundings  be  regarded  merely 
as  the  "  prophetic  entrance  to  immortality ;  "  but 
she  had  to  frequent  them  a  weary  time  before  she 
found  the  door.  Truly,  as  Mrs.  Howe  says,  there 
was  an  absence  of  frivolity  and  a  distaste  for  all 
that  is  paltry  and  superficial,  —  small  danger  that 
her  "  inner  sense  of  beauty  would  be  lost  or  over- 
laid through  much  pleasing  of  the  eye  and  ear." 
No  wonder  the  child  acquired  a  great  "  aversion 


162  ESSAYS  IN  PURITANISM 

to  the  meal-time  ceremonial,  so  long,  so  tiresome," 
that  her  aunts  cried  out  upon  the  "  spoiled  child, 
the  most  unreasonable  child  that  ever  was,  if 
brother  could  but  open  his  eyes  to  see  it."  After 
being  kept  awake  for  hours,  waiting  till  her  father 
should  return  to  hear  her  recite  the  labours  of  the 
day,  no  wonder  her  aunts  were  puzzled  at  her  un- 
willingness to  go  to  bed.  These  good  women  did 
not  know  that  as  soon  as  the  light  was  taken 
away  the  little  girl  saw  colossal  faces  advancing 
slowly,  the  eyes  dilating  and  each  feature  swelling 
loathsomely,  to  return  again  after  being  driven 
away  by  her  shriek  of  terror.  When  at  length 
she  did  go  to  sleep,  it  was  to  dream  of  horses 
trampling  over  her,  or,  as  she  had  just  read  in  her 
Virgil,  of  being  amongst  trees  that  dripped  with 
blood,  where  she  walked  and  walked  and  could 
not  get  out,  whilst  the  blood  became  a  pool  and 
splashed  over  her  feet,  rising  higher  and  higher 
till  soon  she  dreamed  it  would  reach  her  lips. 
No  wonder  she  arose  and  walked  in  her  sleep, 
moaning,  all  over  the  house,  or  found  drenched 
with  tears,  in  the  morning,  the  pillow  on  which 
she  had  been  dreaming  that  she  was  following 
her  mother  to  the  grave.  Where  was  the  mother 
all  this  time  ?   Alas  for  our  poor  mothers ! 

Another  example  of  her  father's  perspicacity 


MARGARET  FULLER  163 

still  remains,  in  his  opinion  that  "  she  would  go 
crazy  if  she  did  not  leave  off  thinking  of  such 
things,"  little  suspecting  that  he  and  his  system 
were  the  enchanters  that  called  forth  these  night 
monsters.  At  the  age  of  six,  this  infant  was  em- 
ployed in  the  study  of  Latin,  though  her  young 
life  was  "  somewhat "  enlivened  by  the  lightness 
of  English  grammar,  "  and  other  subjects  various 
as  the  hours  would  allow."  At  eight,  the  Latin 
language  had  opened  for  her  the  door  to  many 
delights,  for  the  Roman  ideal,  definite  and  resolute, 
commended  itself  to  her  childish  judgement :  in 
Horace  she  enjoyed  the  courtly  appreciation  of 
life;  in  Ovid,  the  first  glimpse  of  mythology 
carried  her  to  the  Greek  Olympus  —  at  least  her 
biographers  say  they  think  so,  but  that  is  probably 
a  guess.  The  modern  counterpart  of  this  "  wonder 
child  "  is  the  "  laboratory  child,"  whose  food  is 
weighed  and  calculated  in  calories,  the  result  of 
it  measured  by  all  the  processes  of  kinetics. 

One  Sabbath  morning  the  young  child  was  cast- 
ing her  eyes  over  the  meeting  for  religious  pur- 
poses, in  a  vain  search  for  the  Roman  figures  she 
knew  so  well,  for  the  characters  from  Shakespeare 
that  she  loved.  They  only  met  the  shrewd  honest 
eye,  the  homely  decency,  or  the  smartness  of  the 
New  England  village ;  or  her  gaze  rested  upon  a 


164  ESSAYS  IN  PURITANISM 

family  occupying  the  next  pew,  which  was  her 
particular   aversion,  for,  as   she   tells   us,  "the 
father  had  a  Scotch  look  of  shrewd  narrowness 
and    entire    self-complacency."    As    she   looked 
about,    her   attention   was   next   arrested   by   a 
woman  foreign  to  that  scene,  with  her  fair  face, 
her  strange  dress,  the  unusual  arrangement  of 
her   hair,   her  reserved,    self-possessed  manner. 
Such  an  "  apparition  "  would  arrest  attention  in 
Cambridgeport  even  in  these  times.  The  stranger 
proved  to  be  an  English  lady  who  possessed  the 
two  remarkable  accomplishments  of  painting  in 
oils  and  playing  on  the  harp.   It  appears  that  there 
were  others  who  admired  the  stranger  in  their 
own  way ;  "  but  she  lightly  turned  her  head  from 
their  oppressive  looks  and  fixed  a  glance  of  full- 
eyed  sweetness  on  the  child."    The  relation  be- 
tween the  two  was  delightful,  till  at  length  the 
stranger  "went  across   the   sea."     They  corre- 
sponded for  many  years,  as  the  habit  then  was, 
and  even  her  "  shallow  and  delicate  epistles  "  did 
not  serve  to  disenchant  the  growing  girl.  This  is 
not  the  usual  result  of  a  long  correspondence. 

Left  alone,  Margaret  fell  into  melancholy 
again,  and  her  father,  who  further  reveals  himself 
in  his  "  distrust  of  medical  aid  generally,"  appears 
to  have  had  a  conversation  with  his  sisters,  during 


MARGARET  FULLER  165 

which  some  heat  was  manifested.  At  any  rate, 
he  concluded  to  send  his  daughter  to  school  with 
her  "  peers  in  age."  The  school  chosen  was  the 
Misses  Prescott's  at  Groton,  as  has  already  been 
indicated.  There,  as  Mrs.  Howe  observes,  she 
was  content,  "  so  long  as  she  could  queen  it  over 
her  fellow  pupils,  but  the  first  serious  wounding 
of  her  self-love  aroused  in  her  a  vengeful  malig- 
nity,"—  fearful  words  to  employ  in  relation  to 
a  girl  of  tender  years. 

Doubtless  these  things  occur  in  boarding- 
schools  at  this  day,  if  we  can  believe  what  we 
hear;  when  they  are  made  the  material  of  an 
autobiographical  romance  they  are  apt  to  assume 
a  false  importance.  It  was  in  this  school  that  the 
foolish  bit  of  pleasantry  occurred.  The  children, 
shocking  as  it  may  sound,  were  permitted  to 
indulge  in  play-acting,  in  which  Margaret  had 
a  peculiar  facility.  To  help  the  illusion,  they  were 
allowed  to  heighten  the  natural  colour  of  the  face, 
but  Margaret  did  not  observe  the  unity  of  time 
and  place  in  respect  of  the  rouge  ;  she  employed 
it  at  unseasonable  times.  The  pleasantry  arose 
out  of  that,  and  was  followed  by  the  turbulence 
of  conduct  on  Margaret's  part  which  "  somewhat 
puzzled "  her  teachers,  as  it  would  not  have 
puzzled  the  judges  of  Salem.   Mrs.  Howe  further 


166  ESSAYS  IN   PURITANISM 

notes  that,  during  the  progress  of  the  affair, 
"  Margaret's  pride  did  not  forsake  her  ;  she  sum- 
moned to  her  aid  the  fortitude  of  her  Romans 
and  ate  her  dinner  quietly,"  though  she  afterwards 
conducted  herself  in  a  wholly  Gallic  fashion. 

Fortunately  the  pupil  was  dealt  with  by  a 
teacher  who  wrought  upon  her  by  narrating  the 
circumstances  of  her  own  life,  which  had  made  it 
one  of  sorrow  and  sacrifice ;  a  common  enough 
practice,  I  believe,  amongst  governesses,  but  one 
would  dearly  love  to  know  the  secret  story  of 
this  New  England  school-teacher.  At  any  rate, 
Margaret  left  the  school  at  the  age  of  thirteen, 
and  returned  to  her  father's  house,  "much  in- 
structed in  the  conditions  of  harmonious  relations 
with  her  fellows,"  qualities  very  essential  to 
peaceable  living  in  the  Cambridgeport  of  those 
days. 

Margaret,  as  her  friends  called  her,  omitting  the 
first  name  Sarah  —  they  called  Emerson,  Waldo 
—  returned  from  school  at  the  end  of  her  thir- 
teenth year.  Dr.  Frederic  Henry  Hedge,  whose 
one  sufficient  claim  upon  our  notice  is  that  he 
was  her  friend,  gives  us  a  lively  picture  of  her  at 
this  time.  He  was  a  student  at  Harvard  ;  allow- 
ance must  be  made  for  that,  as  students  at  Har- 
vard, or  any  other  college  for  the  matter  of  that, 


MARGARET  FULLER  167 

must  not  be  followed  absolutely  in  their  estima- 
tion of  a  feminine  personality. 

According  to  this  authority,  her  precocitj^,  men- 
tal and  physical,  he  also  notes,  was  such  that  she 
passed  for  a  much  older  person,  and  had  already 
a  recognized  place  in  society.  She  was  in  bloom- 
ing and  vigorous  health,  with  a  tendency  to  over- 
stoutness,  which  he  thinks  gave  her  some  trouble, 
though  he  does  not  quite  specify  in  what  way. 
She  was  not  handsome,  nor  even  pretty,  he  admits, 
but  we  all  know  the  combination  of  feminine 
features  and  qualities  which  college  students  con- 
sider handsome  and  pretty.  She  had  fine  hair 
and  teeth,  he  adds  with  discrimination,  and  a 
peculiarly  graceful  carriage  of  the  head  and  neck 
which  redeemed  her  from  the  charge  of  plain- 
ness. Sixteen  years  afterwards,  this  same  neck 
seems  to  have  impressed  Mr.  Channing,  who 
dwells  with  much  feeling  upon  its  pliancy  and 
other  qualities ;  "in  moments  of  tender  and  pen- 
sive feeling  its  curves  were  like  those  of  a  swan ; 
under  the  influence  of  indignation  its  movements 
were  more  like  the  swooping  of  a  bird  of  prey.'* 
He  mentions  a  habit  of  opening  the  eyes  and 
fluttering  them  suddenly,  with  a  singular  dilation 
of  the  iris,  which  must  have  deepened  this  im- 
pression of  her  likeness  to  a  bird.   Nor  are  we 


168  ESSAYS  IN  PURITANISM 

left  without  Emerson's  observations  upon  her 
appearance :  "  She  had  a  face  and  frame  that 
would  indicate  fulness  and  tenacity  of  life "  — 
the  philosophers  of  those  days  were  hard  bitten 
by  phrenology.  "  She  was  then,  as  always,  care- 
fully and  becomingly  dressed,  and  of  lady-like 
self-possession.  For  the  rest,  her  appearance  had 
nothing  prepossessing.  Her  extreme  plainness,  a 
trick  of  incessantly  opening  and  shutting  her  eye- 
lids, the  nasal  tone  of  her  voice,  all  repelled.  Soon 
her  wit  effaced  the  impression  of  her  unattract- 
iveness,  and  the  eyes  which  were  so  plain  at  first 
swam  with  fun  and  drollery."  This  was  in  1836. 
She  was  in  her  twenty-seventh  year,  he  was 
thirty-three  —  these  facts  are  worth  noting  — 
but  in  Mrs.  Howe's  judgement,  "  Emerson's  bane 
was  a  want  of  fusion,  the  ruling  characteristic  of 
Mr.  Channing  a  heart  that  melted  almost  too 
easily." 

Miss  Fuller's  studies  did  not  cease  upon  being 
admitted  as  a  recognized  member  of  Cambridge- 
port  society.  Her  "  pursuit  of  culture  "  was  ar- 
dent, and  she  was  resolute  to  track  it  to  its  lair. 
She  rose  before  five,  walked  for  an  hour,  practised 
on  the  piano  till  seven,  had  breakfast,  read  French 
till  eight,  then  attended  two  or  three  lectures  in 
Brown's  philosophy.    At  half-past  nine  she  went 


MARGARET  FULLER  169 

to  Mr.  Perkins's  school,  and  studied  Greek  till 
twelve,  when  she  went  home  and  practised  on  the 
piano  till  two.  If  the  conversation  were  very- 
agreeable  she  sometimes  lounged  for  half  an  hour 
at  dessert,  though  rarely  so  lavish  of  time.  Then, 
when  she  could,  she  read  two  hours  in  Italian ; 
at  six,  she  walked  or  drove,  then  sang  for  half  an 
hour  before  retiring  for  a  little  while  to  write  in 
her  journal.  This  is  doubtless  what  she  intended 
to  do ;  but  as  Sir  James  Fitzjames  Stephen  ob- 
served, "  you  cannot  always  infer  from  the  state- 
ment of  the  fact  to  the  truth  of  it." 

It  is  true,  however,  that  Miss  Fuller  was  en- 
gaged in  serious  study.  Moved  by  the  brilliant 
expositions  of  Carlyle,  she  commenced  the  study 
of  German,  and  within  a  year  had  read  Goethe, 
Schiller,  Tieck,  Korner,  Richter,  and  Xovalis  — 
fine-sounding  names.  She  was  able  to  appreciate 
"  the  imperfection  of  Xovalis,  and  the  shallowness 
of  Lessing."  She  thought  him  "  easily  followed, 
strong,  but  not  deep."  Impressed  with  the  value 
of  a  fixed  opinion  on  the  subject  of  metaphysics, 
she  applied  herself  to  the  study  of  Fichte,  Stuart, 
and  Brown  —  the  Scotch  schoolmaster  who  at- 
tempted to  fill  in  with  hollow  rhetoric  the  gulf 
between  youth  and  Presbyterianism.  This  ambi- 
tious young  woman,  after  a  year's  study  of  Ger- 


170  ESSAYS  IN   PURITANISM 

man  in  New  England,  entertained  the  idea  of 
writing  a  life  of  Goethe,  and  constructing  six  his- 
torical tragedies,  which  would  have  been  a  fairly 
marvellous  production.  In  spite  of  all  this  em- 
ployment, she  continued  to  feel  "  a  merciful  and 
providential  interest  in  her  friends." 

At  twenty-one  years  of  age  this  strange  person 
found  "  the  past  worthless,  the  future  hopeless." 
The  occasion  of  this  discovery  was  Thanksgiving 
Day,  the  place,  church.  After  dinner  the  outlook 
was  rather  more  gloomy,  and  she  sought  to  free 
herself  from  anguish  by  a  long  quick  walk.  This 
was  a  thoroughly  sound  physiological  proceeding, 
and  she  hoped  to  return  home  in  a  state  of 
prayer.  Luther  in  a  similar  case  had  recourse  to 
a  draught  of  strong  sweet  wine.  It  was  a  sad 
and  sallow  day,  and,  driven  from  place  to  place 
by  the  conflict  within  her,  she  sat  down  at  last  to 
rest  beside  a  little  pool,  dark  and  silent,  within 
the  trees.  This  must  have  been  about  five  in  the 
afternoon ;  dinner  was  at  two ;  we  all  feel  that  way 
at  times,  but  if  we  are  wise  we  do  not  speak  of  it. 
Suddenly  the  sun  broke  through  the  clouds,  and 
"  the  inward  conquest  was  sealed  by  the  sunbeam 
of  that  sallow  day."  Then  she  saw  that  "  there 
was  no  self,  that  it  was  only  because  she  thought 
self  real  that  she  suffered,  that  she  had  only  to 


MARGARET  FULLER  171 

live  in  the  idea  of  the  all,  and  all  was  hers." 
This  sounds  strangely  familiar  in  our  ears. 

Two  years  later,  in  1833,  Margaret  Fuller  and 
her  family,  in  the  false  language  of  the  period, 
"exchanged  the  academic  shades  of  Cambridge- 
port  for  the  country  retirement  of  Groton  "  —  Mr. 
Higginson  himself  speaks  of  Artichoke  Mills  on 
the  Merrimac  as  "  a  delicious  land  of  lotos-eatiuo-." 
She  did  not,  we  are  glad  to  learn,  take  the  position 
of  a  malcontent,  but  busied  herself  in  teaching 
her  brothers  and  sisters,  in  needlework,  and  in 
assisting  her  mother,  a  thoroughly  useful  occupa- 
tion. But  soon  we  find  her  at  a  careful  perusal 
of  Alfieri's  writings  and  an  examination  into  the 
evidence  of  Christianity,  for  it  would  appear  that 
infidels  and  deists,  some  of  whom  were  numbered 
among  her  friends,  had  instilled  into  her  mind 
distressing  sceptical  notions.  It  will  be  observed 
that  it  was  deists,  and  not  atheists,  who  poisoned 
this  young  Xew  England  mind. 

It  was  during  this  period  that  Margaret  Fuller 
met  Miss  Harriet  Martineau,  and  the  stranger 
appears  to  have  been  rather  free  in  her  remarks, 
for  we  have  it  on  record  that  her  depreciation  of 
Hannah  More  grated  on  Miss  Fuller's  sensibil- 
ities. The  two  ladies  went  to  church  together,  and 
the  minister  gave  them  the  distinction  of  being 


172  ESSAYS  IN   PURITANISM 

prayed  for.    This  induced  Margaret  herself  to 
utter  a  prayer  which  she  afterwards  committed  to 
writing,  though  the  uttering  of  it  may  have  been 
a  dramatic  afterthought.    Some  sceptics  affect  to 
question  the  efficacy  of  the  minister's  prayer,  for 
one  of  the  persons  to  whom  it  was  addressed  be- 
came in  time  an  "  enthusiastic  disbeliever."    This 
imputed  unrighteousness,  however,  occurred  after 
the  publication  of  Miss  Martineau's  book,   "  So- 
ciety in  America,"  in  1836.   In  this  work,  as  well 
as  in  her  "  Autobiography,"  she  indulged  in  some 
tolerably  plain  speaking.    She  sets  it  down  for  a 
fact  that  she  found  the  coterie  in  Boston  occupied 
in  talk  about  fanciful  and  shallow  conceits  which 
they  took  for  philosophy,  and  that  Miss  Fuller  was 
spoiling  a  set  of  well-meaning  women  by  looking 
down  upon  people  who  acted  instead  of  talking 
finely.    However  this  may  be,  we  have  Margaret's 
opinion  of   the   book   in   an  "immense"  letter 
addressed  to  its  author,  in  which  she  tells  her  she 
found  in  it  a  degree  of  presumptuousness,  irre- 
verence, inaccuracy,  hasty  generalization,  ultra- 
ism,  and  many  other  evil  things.    Ten  years  later, 
the  ladies  met  again,  but  no  heat  appears  to  have 
been  developed.    It  was  to  Miss  Martineau  the 
young  lady  was  indebted  for  an  introduction  to 
Emerson, "  whom  she  very  much  wished  to  know," 


MARGARET   FULLER  173 

and  all  three  became  very  good  friends.  Emerson 
speaks  of  his  impression  of  these  early  interviews 
with  a  polite  reserve,  as  if  he  were  writing  a  letter 
of  commendation  for  a  friend  whom  he  wished  to 
be  rid  of.  "•  I  believe,  I  fancied  her  too  much  in- 
terested in  personal  history,  and  dramatic  justice 
was  done  to  everybody's  foibles."  It  is  pretty  hard 
to  take  any  comfort  out  of  that,  yet  again  he 
insists  that  "  her  good  services  were  somewhat 
impaired  by  a  self-esteem  which  it  would  have 
been  unfortunate  for  her  disciples  to  imitate."  It 
is  certain  that  those  disciples  were  not  deterred 
by  this  gentle  remonstrance  from  manifestations 
of  self-esteem.  It  was  unfortunate,  but  then 
Emerson  had  already  laid  himself  open  to  the 
charge  of  "  a  want  of  fusion." 

In  the  autumn  of  1835  the  father,  Timothy 
Fuller,  died,  leaving  his  property  "  somewhat  di- 
minished," as  many  a  worse  man  has  done.  If  it 
were  the  present  intention  to  deal  with  that  heroic 
period  in  the  world's  history  of  which  the  Puritan 
development  in  New  England  formed  a  part, 
especially  dwelling  upon  the  strength  and  splen- 
dour of  character  therein  displayed,  we  could  not 
do  better  than  follow  the  fortunes  of  the  Fuller 
family  up  to  its  source.  The  origin  of  the  family, 
in  America  at  least,  was  in  Lieutenant  Thomas 


174  ESSAYS  IN  PURITANISM 

Fuller,  who  came  over  in  1638.   We  have  his 
own  word  for  it  in  verse  : 

In  thirty-eight  I  set  my  foot 

On  this  New  England  shore, 
My  thoughts  were  then  to  stay  one  year, 

And  here  remain  no  more. 

The  great-grandson  of  this  lieutenant  and  poet 
was  Timothy  Fuller,  and  the  eldest  son  of  this 
Timothy  was  another  of  the  same  name,  the  father 
of  Margaret.  Miss  Fuller's  grandfather  grad- 
uated, or  was  graduated  as  it  was  the  fashion  of 
that  time  to  say,  from  Harvard  College  in  1760, 
and  settled  in  Princeton  (Massachusetts)  as  a 
clergyman. 

It  is  the  custom  to  suppose  that  the  events  cul- 
minating in  the  American  Revolution  were  of  an 
entirely  spontaneous  origin.  As  a  matter  of  fact 
there  was  much  contention,  much  bitterness,  and 
many  opponents  of  extreme  measures.  This  cler- 
gyman was  a  firm  opponent,  and  on  the  occasion 
of  taking  up  arms  he  addressed  his  parishioners 
from  a  text  which  is  susceptible  of  much  vindict- 
iveness  in  the  handling.  As  a  result  he  was  dis- 
missed from  his  charge,  and  he  brought  suit  to 
recover  his  salary.  The  affair  appears  to  have 
been  adjusted,  for  we  find  him  once  more  in 
his  pastorate,  but  recalcitrant  as  ever,  voting  in 


MARGARET  FULLER  175 

the  State  Convention  against  the  acceptance  of 
the  Constitution  for  the  United  Colonies,  on  the 
ground  that  that  instrument  did  not  define  the 
relation  of  human  slavery  to  free  institutions. 
Some  will  consider  this  old  Puritan  a  far-seeing 
man.  His  five  sous  were  all  lawyers,  and  so  far 
as  one  can  judge  did  not  attain  to  any  great  emi- 
nence for  winsomeness  of  nature  or  agreeableness 
of  behaviour.  It  would  appear  that  Margaret 
inherited  some  of  those  qualities  which  are  not 
designed  to  win  the  public  heart ;  indeed,  one 
observer,  himself  a  man  of  intemperate  speech, 
thought  he  found  in  her  "  the  disagreeableness  of 
forty  Fullers." 

Margaret's  father  was  the  eldest  of  these  five 
lawyers,  not  to  designate  them  by  so  humane  a 
name  as  sons,  and  he  must  have  been  a  person  of 
some  consideration.  He  was,  of  course,  a  gradu- 
ate of  Harvard,  a  representative  in  Congress, 
Chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Naval  Affairs, 
and  an  intimate  friend  of  John  Quincy  Adams. 
Indeed,  the  President  visited  Mr.  Fuller  and  was 
present  at  a  dinner  and  ball  given  in  his  honour. 
At  this  time  Mr.  Fuller  lived  in  the  fine  old 
house  built  by  Chief  Justice  Dana,  and,  what  is 
of  more  interest  to  us,  this  was  the  occasion  of 
his  daughter's  first  public  appearance. 


176  ESSAYS  IN  PURITANISM 

To  show  how  faithfully  the  field  has  been 
gleaned,  we  are  not  left  without  an  exact  account 
of  the  figure  that  the  young  lady  made  at  this 
ball.  She  is  described  as  a  young  girl  of  sixteen, 
with  a  very  plain  face,  half-shut  eyes,  and  hair 
curled  all  over  her  head.  She  was  laced  so  tightly 
that  she  had  to  hold  her  arms  back  as  if  they 
were  pinioned.  Her  dress  was  of  pink  silk  with 
muslin  over  it,  low  in  the  neck,  and  badly  cut. 
She  danced  awkwardly,  and  was  so  shortsighted 
that  she  could  hardly  see  her  partner.  It  will 
appear  at  once  that  this  description  is  by  another 
young  lady,  and  therefore  that  the  reporter's  con- 
temporary was  of  an  attractive  personality. 

The  Fullers  did  not  long  occupy  this  mansion, 
but  made  several  moves  before  retiring  to  Groton 
in  1833,  where  the  father  died  two  years  later. 
The  consequent  family  cares  prevented  the  daugh- 
ter's acceptance  of  a  proposition  made  to  her  by 
Mr.  Farrar,  professor  of  astronomy  at  Harvard, 
and  his  wife,  to  visit  Europe  in  company  with 
Miss  Martineau.  Margaret  prayed  that  she  might 
make  a  right  decision  —  an  operation  wholly 
needless,  one  would  think,  as  the  answer  was  so 
obvious  from  her  resources.  In  the  pious  enquiry 
of  one  of  her  admirers,  "  Of  all  the  crownings 
of  Margaret's  life,  shall  we  not  most  envy  her 


MARGARET  FULLER  177 

that  of  this  act  of  sacrifice? "  one  finds  a  revela- 
tion of  the  meretricious  surroundings  in  which 
she  lived  —  as  meretricious  as  the  surroundings 
in  which  Mark  Pattison  lived  at  the  same  time, 
when  Oxford  also  was  overtaken  by  folly. 

In  1836  the  young  woman  went  to  Boston,  under 
engagement  with  Mr.  A.  Bronson  Alcott  to  teach 
Latin  and  French  in  his  school.     To  these  lan- 
guages she  added  Italian  and  German.  One  would 
think  from  the  published  accounts  that  she  had 
the  gift  of  tongues,  and  was  able  to  confer  it  upon 
her   pupils  —  a   gift  of    doubtful  utility   where 
women  are  concerned,   as  a   wise   old   Puritan 
observed  in  the  bitterness  of  his  spirit,  during  the 
troubled  time  when  Mrs.  Hutchinson  was  turn- 
ing the  world  upside  down.    One  young  woman 
maliciously  circulated  the  report  that  their  teacher 
thought  in  German.    Yet  when  Miss  Fuller  went 
to  Paris  she  "  might  as  usefully  have  been  in  a 
well,"  for  all  the  good  her  French  did  her.  When 
she  met  her  Italian  husband  in  Kome,  she  could 
only   exchange   a   few    guide-book   words;    six 
months  after  that  meeting,  she  still  "  spoke  very 
bad  French  fluently."     When  she  called   upon 
George  Sand,  that   lady  greeted  her  with   the 
familiar  "  (Test  vousf  "  Miss  Fuller  replied :  "11 
me  fait  de  hien  de  vous  voir,''  which  is  bad  French, 


178  ESSAYS  IN  PURITANISM 

but  amusing.  Her  biographers  are  careful  to 
alter  tlie  expression  to  "7Z  me  fait  du  hien  de 
vous  voir,'^  whicb  is  better;  but  the  incident 
illustrates  their  incapacity  to  tell  of  a  thing  as  it 
occurred  and  their  uncontrollable  desire  to  exag- 
gerate. 

It  appears  there  were  "  worldlings  "  in  Boston 
in  those  days  and  that  they  held  Mr.  Alcott  in  as 
much  honour  "  as  the  worldlings  of  ancient  Athens 
did  Socrates."  It  "  made  them  smile "  to  hear 
their  verdict  confirmed  by  Miss  Martineau  from 
the  other  side  of  the  Atlantic :  hence  the  vigour 
of  speech  in  the  letter  condemning  her  book.  Mr. 
Alcott  appears  to  have  had  his  own  troubles. 
There  was  a  serious  proposition  to  prosecute  him 
for  blasphemy,  and  on  the  appearance  of  his  book, 
"  Conversations  on  the  Gospels,"  a  professor  of 
Harvard  is  quoted  as  affirming  that  one  third  of  it 
was  absurd,  one  third  blasphemous,  and  one  third 
obscene.  In  a  very  short  time  this  famous  school 
contained  only  five  pupils  —  three  of  them  Mr. 
Alcott's  daughters,  a  colored  child,  and  one  other. 
Miss  Fuller's  labours  as  a  teacher  in  Boston  were 
at  an  end,  so  she  went  to  Providence  to  teach  in 
Colonel  Fuller's  school.  Her  salary  was  to  be 
a  thousand  dollars,  but  there  is  some  question  as 
to  whether  it   was   ever  paid.     Miss  Fuller  re- 


MARGARET  FULLER  179 

mained  in  Providence  two  years,  and  during  that 
time  made  the  acquaintance  of  many  persons 
whose  names  we  know,  amongst  them  Richard 
Henry  Dana,  and  his  son,  who  had  just  returned 
from  his  wanderings  over  the  sea.  Colonel  Ful- 
ler, who  was  no  relation  of  Margaret,  shortly 
afterwards  went  to  New  York  on  the  staff  of  the 
"  Mirror,"  then  conducted  by  N.  P.  Willis  and 
George  P.  Morris,  but  he  did  not  remain  long,  as 
he  "  got  tired  of  supporting  two  poets."  In  those 
days,  it  would  appear,  newspapers  were  conducted 
by  men  of  literary  taste,  and  this  course  seemed 
as  natural  to  the  readers  as  that  a  ship  should 
be  commanded  by  a  sea-captain. 

All  these  volumes  of  memoirs,  reminiscences, 
letters,  and  diaries,  and  even  these  present  writ- 
ings, may  seem  a  great  thing  about  a  very  small 
matter,  for  we  have  not  yet  heard  one  word  of 
sense  from  Margaret  Fuller  herself.  But  that  is 
part  of  the  enigma.  If  you  ask  her  biographers 
wherein  consisted  the  capacity  of  this  woman, 
they  will  answer  with  one  accord,  "  in  her  conver- 
sations ; "  a  statement  obviously  difficult  to  dis- 
prove at  this  distance  of  time.  The  converse  of  the 
Platonic  proposition,  that  ideas  are  inseparable 
from  speech,  is  not  universally  true,  and  we  can- 
not now  say  what  was  the  ratio  of  ideas  to  words. 


180  ESSAYS  IN  PURITANISM 

Certainly  there  was  a  great  deal  of  speech.  All 
authorities  agree  upon  that,  though  Miss  Marti- 
neau  for  one  did  not  attach  any  high  value  to  it. 
Dr.  Hedge,  one  of  Miss  Fuller's  earliest  admirers, 
remarked  upon  her  conversation,  "  brilliant  and 
full  of  interest,  but  with  a  satirical  turn,  which 
became  somewhat  modified  in  after  life."  Mr. 
Clarke  bears  the  same  testimony,  but  admits  that 
she  was  haughty  and  supercilious  to  what  he  calls 
the  multitude,  and  attributes  this  to  her  being 
"  intensive  "  rather  than  "  extensive,"  though  this 
explanation  does  not  advance  our  enquiry  very 
far.  Strangers,  we  are  further  told,  were  wary 
of  her  on  account  of  a  haunting  fear  of  being 
reduced  to  an  absurdity.  For  all  these  reasons 
we  must  infer  that  her  talk  was  interesting  to 
the  immediate  circle  of  her  friends. 

When  Miss  Fuller  returned  from  Providence, 
she  decided  to  turn  to  account  her  ability  to  talk, 
and  in  1839  began  her  celebrated  "  Conversations  " 
in  Miss  Peabody's  rooms,  West  Street,  Boston. 
She  talked  for  five  years,  not  without  intermissions 
of  course,  but  that  was  her  principal  occupation 
till  she  left  New  England.  "  Unfortunately,"  as 
Mrs.  Howe  judged,  "  the  pulpit  and  the  platform 
were  interdicted  to  her  sex,  but  here  was  an  oppor- 
tunity to  arouse  women  from  their  prone  and 


MARGARET  FULLER  181 

slavish  attitude."  At  tlie  first  meeting  twenty- 
five  ladies  were  present,  "  who  showed  themselves 
to  be  of  the  elect  by  their  own  election  of  a  noble 
aim  *' — Unitarian  doctrine  tridy,  Arianism,  Socin- 
ianism,  for  less  than  which  men,  and  women  too, 
had  been  hanged  in  that  very  Boston.  The  first 
Conversation  was  devoted  to  Mythology,  as  being 
sufficiently  separated  from  all  exciting  local 
subjects ;  but  it  is  hard  to  say  what  subjects 
might  not  have  excited  the  Boston  of  those  days ; 
it  became  excited  over  less. 

In  spite  of  the  evidence  of  direct  observers  to 
the  contrary,  Margaret  Fuller  is  said  to  have  ap- 
peared positively  beautiful  in  her  chair  of  leader- 
ship ;  even  her  dress  was  glorified,  although  it  was 
known  to  have  been  characterized  by  no  display 
or  attempted  effect.  However  that  may  have  been, 
it  is  certain  that  these  people  could  not  see 
clearly,  for  we  are  asked  to  credit  the  statement 
that  twenty-five  Boston  ladies  of  the  year  1840 
"  seemed  melted  into  one  love."  In  addition  to 
the  meetings  for  ladies,  there  was  a  series  of  five 
meetings  to  which  "gentlemen"  were  admitted. 
Mr.  Emerson  was  present  at  one  of  them,  and  he 
testifies  that  it  was  encumbered  by  the  headiness 
or  incapacity  of  the  men. 

These  happy  labours  continued  for  six  winters. 


182  ESSAYS  IN  PURITANISM 

and  came  to  an  end  in  April,  1844,  but  in  the 
mean  time  they  had  not  consumed  all  of  Miss 
Fuller's  energy.  She  was  actively  engaged  in  the 
study  of  art.  The  masters  of  art  were  studied  by 
means  of  casts  in  the  Boston  Athenaeum,  in  a 
collection  of  Allston's  paintings,  and  some  sculp- 
tures of  Greenough  and  Crawford.  Upon  these 
rather  fragmentary  data  she  appears  to  have  at- 
tained to  some  finality  of  opinion,  though,  accord- 
ing to  Emerson,  a  certaiu  fanciful  interpretation 
of  her  own  sometimes  took  the  place  of  a  just 
estimate  of  artistic  values.  If  the  Boston  of  those 
days  was  less  rich  in  art  treasures  than  it  is  now, 
we  have  it  on  high  authority  that  it  was  "  richer 
in  the  intellectual  form  of  appreciative  criticism." 
It  may  be  so ;  one  of  their  own  has  said  it.  At 
any  rate,  Emerson  considered  that  Miss  Fuller's 
taste  in  art  was  not  based  on  universal  but  on 
idiosyncratic  grounds.  No  one  blames  the  young 
woman  for  being  so  foolish,  but  the  people  around 
her  must  have  been  extremely  foolish  to  listen  and 
to  praise  her.  And  so  she  lived  surrounded  by  flat- 
terers, and  the  most  subtle  flattery  of  a  woman  is 
that  which  is  addressed  to  her  intellect,  because 
it  helps  to  allay  the  suspicion  that  she  has  none. 
There  are  but  two  incidents  yet  to  relate  before 
emerging  into  the  air.   The  one  is  Miss  Fuller's 


MARGARET  FULLER  183 

editorship  of  the  "  Dial ;  "  the  other,  her  connec- 
tion with  Brook  Farm.  The  painter  Newton 
made  the  remark  that  in  London  he  met  occa- 
sionally such  society  as  he  met  in  Boston  all  the 
time,  which  in  itself  is  a  dark  saying,  but  at  any 
rate  it  was  necessary  that  these  friends  should 
have  an  organ  of  printed  speech.  As  Leigh  Hunt 
said  of  one  of  the  fraternity,  they  were  wavering 
between  something  and  nothing,  and  now  they 
looked  for  permanency  in  the  "  Dial."  This  jour- 
nal appeared  in  1840,  and  was  issued  at  intervals, 
more  or  less  regular,  for  four  years.  Good  or 
bad,  it  cost  a  great  deal  of  precious  time  from 
those  who  served  it,  and  from  Margaret  most  of 
all ;  that  was  Emerson's  view  of  the  publication. 
The  idea  of  a  journal  was  promoted  by  the  appear- 
ance in  England  of  the  "New  Monthly  Maga- 
zine," whose  editor,  Heraud,  is  described  by 
Carlyle  as  "  a  loquacious,  scribacious  little  man, 
of  middle  age  and  a  parboiled  greasy  aspect." 

The  "  Dial,"  then,  was  the  organ  of  the  Tran- 
scendentalists  —  the  word  would  slip  out  at  last ; 
the  meaning  of  it  is  that  their  utterances  had 
passed  beyond  the  limits  of  good  sense  —  and  as 
such  it  is  a  treasury  of  information,  containing, 
as  it  does,  work  fresh  from  the  hand  of  Emerson, 
Lowell,  Thoreau,  Cranch,  the  Channings,  Alcott, 


184  ESSAYS  IN  PURITANISM 

and  Parker,  upon  such  subjects  as,  the  Interior 
of  the  Hidden  Life,  the  Outworld  and  the  In- 
world,  and  many  other  large  subjects,  which  we 
do  not  now  comprehend.  It  would  appear  that 
even  in  those  days  of  enlightenment  there  were 
some  who  cared  for  none  of  these  things,  and  the 
editor  of  the  Philadelphia  "  Gazette  "  so  far  for- 
got himself  as  to  call  the  writers  a  pack  of  zanies, 
and  to  apply  to  them  other  opprobrious  epithets 
of  plainer  meaning. 

Those  were  curious  times;  men  were  full  of 
hope  and  everybody  had  a  gospel  of  his  own. 
Graham  preached  the  regeneration  of  the  world 
through  the  medium  of  unbolted  flour,  and  we 
have  not  yet  freed  ourselves  from  the  heresy ; 
Alcott  preached  a  "  potato  "  gospel,  and  Palmer 
re-discovered  the  source  of  evil  to  be,  not  in  the 
love  of  money,  but  in  money  itself.  A  strange 
fruit  of  the  materialism  of  their  doctrine  is  found 
in  the  fact  that  the  best  reward  they  held  out  was 
a  long  life,  as  if  that  in  itself  were  a  wholly  desir- 
able thing. 

It  is  easy  at  this  distance  of  time  to  speak  of 
that  ingenious  experiment  in  altruism  known  as 
Brook  Farm  with  calmness  and  understanding. 
It  was  an  innocent  form  of  folly  and  the  motives 
of  the  associates  were  wholly  good.     These  ex- 


MARGARET  FULLER  185 

tremely  speculative  persons  manifested  a  pure 
and  fresh  spirit,  and  an  unquestioning  faith  in 
the  regeneration  of  men,  qualities  excellent  in 
themselves,  but  the  leaven  was  very  little  and  its 
force  soon  spent.  Including  the  preliminary 
period  of  talk,  the  whole  fanciful  affair  only  lasted 
some  four  or  five  years,  and  then  vanished  into 
the  void  with  other  good  and  aimless  intentions. 
There  was  abundant  enthusiasm  and  amiability, 
qualities  one  may  see  in  a  company  of  otherwise 
serious-minded  men  riding  through  the  streets  of 
a  Western  town  on  the  backs  of  camels,  with 
strange  banners  in  their  hands ;  but,  as  Mr. 
James  observes,  there  were  degrees  of  enthusiasm, 
and  there  must  have  been  degrees  of  amiability 
too.  The  failure  of  the  experiment  arose  from  the 
nature  of  the  case.  J.  G.  Holland,  who  was  one 
of  them,  wrote  : 

We  hope,  we  resolre,  we  aspire,  we  pray, 
And  we  think  we  mount  the  air  on  wings 
Beyond  the  recall  of  sensual  things, 
Whilst  our  feet  still  cling  to  the  heavy  clay. 

Precisely ;  this  is  not  very  good  poetry,  but  it  is 
good  sense.    Their  feet  too  were  in  the  clay. 

The  people  who  composed  the  Brook  Farm 
community  were  for  the  most  part  insignificant. 
Emerson  was  gently  sarcastic  and  mildly  critical 


186  ESSAYS  IN  PURITANISM 

throughout.  In  the  cloud  of  talk  we  hear  his 
voice :  "  truly  it  is  not  instruction,  but  provoca- 
tion, I  can  receive  from  another  soul."  Haw- 
thorne gloomed  in  a  corner  for  hours  at  a  time, 
holding  a  book  before  him,  but  seldom  turning 
the  leaves.  His  companions  accused  him  of  com- 
ing to  the  place  as  a  sort  of  vampire,  for  purely 
psychological  purposes.  His  attitude  is  revealed 
in  one  of  his  notes  :  "  I  was  invited  to  dine  with 
Miss  Margaret  Fuller,  but  Providence  had  given 
me  some  business  to  do,  for  which  I  was  very 
thankful."  Even  Margaret  herself  thought  that 
one  of  the  best  things  about  the  Farm  was  its 
nearness  to  the  woods,  and  escape  so  easy ;  she 
was  sagacious  enough  to  observe  a  "great  tend- 
ency to  advocate  spontaneousness  at  the  expense 
of  reflection."  A  curious  way  in  which  this  spon- 
taneity revealed  itself  was  in  designating  the 
cows  by  the  names  of  the  inmates.  Margaret  felt 
the  evils  of  want  of  conventional  refinement  in 
the  impudence  with  which  one  of  the  girls  treated 
her.  This  same  young  woman,  however,  was 
afterwards  brought  to  see  the  enormity  of  her 
offence,  and  on  the  following  Saturday,  as  Mar- 
garet was  leaving,  "she  stood  waiting  with  a 
timid  air  "  to  bid  her  good-bye.  On  another  occa- 
sion she  observed  a  "lack  of  the  deference  she 


MARGARET  FULLER  187 

needed  for  the  boldness  and  animation  of  her 
part,  and  so  did  not  speak  with  as  much  force  as 
usuaL" 

The  movement  illustrates  well  the  vagaries  of 
philosophic  speculation.  No  one  can  tell  whither 
it  leads  or  where  it  will  end  if  it  be  allowed  free 
play.  It  would  be  long  to  trace  the  origin  of  the 
movement,  for  its  ways  were  long  and  devious. 
It  is  sufficient  to  say  that  it  came  from  France, 
through  Fourier,  who  in  turn  derived  his  inspi- 
ration from  Rousseau,  and  he  in  turn  from  Locke 
and  his  school ;  but  that  is  far  enough. 

In  England,  when  the  speculation  had  reached 
a  certain  point  and  the  conclusion  was  seen  to  be 
logically  inevitable,  the  common  sense  of  the 
English  mind  came  to  the  rescue.  The  people 
perceived  that  the  course  of  life  can  never  be 
determined  by  a  priori  reasoning.  In  France  the 
doctrinaires  gained  control,  and  were  determined 
to  push  their  reasoning  to  a  conclusion.  The  issue 
was  the  entirely  logical  Revolution,  and  they 
accepted  it,  just  as  the  Calvinist  accepts  hell. 
Their  great  cry  was  "  Return  to  Nature,"  but  it 
was  modified  by  the  German  voice,  and  modu- 
lated by  some  suggestions  of  Hellenism,  before 
it  came  across  to  New  England  as  a  faint  echo. 

There  was  a  new  spirit  in  the  air.    In  England 


188  ESSAYS   IN   PURITANISM 

people  had  turned  aside  and  applied  themselves 
to  the  amendment  of  their  lives,  after  the  method 
of  Wesley ;  in  America  its  result  was  seen  tempo- 
rarily, and  perhaps  accidentally,  in  the  clouds 
of  transcendentalism  —  if  that  be  not  too  for- 
midable a  word  to  employ  —  but  finally  in  the 
humanizing  results  of  the  great  Unitarian  move- 
ment. 

Margaret  Fuller  herself  was  quick  enough  to 
perceive  that  Fourierism  was  entirely  material- 
istic in  motive  and  aim,  "  making  the  soul  the 
result  of  bodily  health,  instead  of  body  the  mere 
clothing  of  the  soul."  It  is  not  by  any  material 
thing  that  either  the  individual  or  the  mass  will 
be  altered  for  the  better. 

But,  after  all,  is  Nature  only  Nature  as  seen  on 
a  rare  day  in  June,  in  the  sweet  fields  and  woods 
of  New  England  ?  Is  it  not  to  be  looked  for  also 
when  we  lift  up  our  eyes  to  the  mountains,  scarred 
by  catastrophe  or  seamed  by  the  frosts  of  winter, 
and  proclaiming  the  effect  of  the  slow  invulner- 
able forces  that  make  for  disintegration  and 
decay  ?  If  those  who  carried  this  cry  farthest  had 
ears  to  hear,  and  had  listened  on  the  sweetest 
evening,  they  would  have  heard  the  rustle  of  the 
viper  in  the  dead  leaves,  the  stealthy  tread  of 
some  small  beast  relentlessly  pursuing  a  smaller 


MARGARET  FULLER  189 

beast  of  prey ;  they  would  have  heard  the  cry  of 
the  hunted  and  the  anguished  scream  of  the  last 
agony.  The  very  wood  of  West  Roxbury  was 
a  world  of  plunder  and  death ;  Nature,  there  too, 
was  one  with  rapine  ;  the  Mayfly  was  torn  by  the 
swallow ;  the  sparrow  speared  by  the  shrike  — - 
that  is,  if  shrikes  inhabit  New  England  in  June. 

It  is  only  in  semi -rural  communities  that  there 
is  a  desire  to  escape"  farther  from  civilization. 
Zola  knew  the  soil  and  what  it  brings  forth  — 
squalor  and  brutality.  Nature  worship  is  as  false 
a  religion  as  the  worship  of  any  other  material 
thing.  It  is  Ashtoreth  in  another  guise,  save  that 
amongst  the  Brook  Farmers  the  false  worship  was 
not  in  the  slightest  degree  associated  with  sexual 
immorality,  and  that  was  the  only  strange  thing 
about  it.  Yet  pi  atonic  love  is  always  silly,  and 
sometimes  it  is  dangerous,  according  to  the  judi- 
cious observation  of  the  Master  of  Peterhouse. 
Not  since  the  days  of  the  Assyrian  King  have 
men  become  sane  by  being  turned  out  to  grass ; 
and  those  who  talk  of  the  regeneration  of  the 
race  through  Nature,  ''  talk  as  a  bull  would  talk." 
We  have  Johnson's  word  for  that. 

These  people  attempted  to  realize  Dryden's 
dream  of  an  early  age,  "  when  wild  in  woods  the 
noble  savage  ran,"  or  in  reality,  as  Mr.  Bagehot 


190  ESSAYS  IN  PURITANISM 

prefers  it,  "  when  lone  in  woods  tlie  cringing 
savage  crept."  Emerson  tried  to  teach  them  that 
heroism  lies  in  doing  the  daily  work.  Innes  after- 
wards proclaimed  that  beauty  is  in  the  meadow 
and  the  woodland  of  the  back  lot,  as  he  had 
learned  from  Rousseau,  Dupre,  Daubigny,  and 
Millet,  that  the  paysage  intime  contains  that 
beauty  which  we  are  all  prone  to  go  far  to  seek. 
Innes  was  always  protesting  that "  rivers,  streams, 
the  rippling  brook,  the  hillside,  the  sky,  and  the 
clouds  can  only  convey  their  sentiment  to  those 
who  are  in  the  love  of  God  and  the  desire  of  the 
truth." 

The  Transcendentalists  of  New  England  had 
those  two  qualities,  love  of  God  and  love  of  the 
truth,  and  any  Calvinist  could  tell  where  they  ob- 
tained them.  Certainly  it  was  not  in  West  Rox- 
bury.  And  yet  to  this  day  these  devotees  are 
unthinkingly  held  up  to  our  admiration  —  men 
who  declined  the  duties  of  everyday  life,  who,  like 
the  melancholy  Democritus,  "forsook  the  city, 
lived  in  groves  and  hollow  trees  upon  a  green 
bank  by  a  brookside  or  confluence  of  waters  all 
day  long  and  all  night."  They  saw  the  evil  that 
is  in  the  world  as  clearly  as  we  see  it,  but  they 
thought  there  was  a  remedy  in  exchanging  the 
old  physicians  for  new  quacks.   We  know  there 


MARGARET  FULLER  191 

is  none,  save  that  which  comes  in  the  ordinary 
course  of  events. 

It  must  not  be  supposed  that  Margaret  Fuller 
and  her  friends  had  it  all  their  own  way.  The 
American  public  saw  to  that.  There  was  humour 
in  the  land  then  as  now,  and  there  was  common 
sense.  The  little  coterie  made  a  large  noise  and 
their  successors  took  up  its  echoes,  but  it  must 
not  be  inferred  that  the  voice  of  the  men  of  com- 
mon sense  was  either  still  or  small.  They  met 
with  neglect  and  ridicule ;  Cranch  made  carica- 
tures ;  Lowell  wrote  doggerel.  One  of  his  stanzas 
in  "A  Fable  for  Critics"  thus  describes  Mar- 
garet Fuller  under  the  guise  of  Miranda : 

She  will  take  an  old  notion  and  make  it  her  own 

By  saying  it  o'er  in  her  Sibylline  tone, 

Or  persuade  you  't  is  something  tremendously  deep, 

By  repeating  it  so  as  to  put  you  to  sleep  ; 

And  she  well  may  defy  any  mortal  to  see  through  it 

When  once  she  has  mixed  up  her  infinite  me  through  it. 

In  short,  then,  Margaret  Fuller  became,  in  the 
minds  of  sensible  people,  the  watchword  for  all 
that  was  eccentric  and  pretentious,  the  embodi- 
ment of  all  that  was  ungraceful  and  unfeminine ; 
yet  if  any  of  those  scoffers  thought  Margaret 
Fuller  a  fool,  he  was  vastly  mistaken,  though  there 
was  something  to  be  said  for  that  view  of  the  case ; 


192  ESSAYS  IN  PURITANISM 

if  he  arrived  at  the  same  conclusion  in  respect  of 
her  friends,  who  fostered  all  this  folly,  this  is  not 
the  place  to  contradict  him. 

In  1844  Margaret  Fuller  went  to  New  York. 
She  seems  to  have  had  her  eyes  opened  to  the 
futility  of  the  life  in  Boston.  In  a  letter  to  a  friend 
written  not  long  before  the  change,  she  confessed 
she  had  "  gabbled  and  simpered  long  enough ;  " 
but  we  do  not  know  if  the  confession  was  made 
with  as  much  sincerity  as  the  occasion  demanded. 
The  immediate  cause  of  her  departure  was  an  en- 
gagement with  Horace  Greeley  to  join  the  staff  of 
the  "  Tribune,"  and  she  lived  in  his  house  so  long 
as  she  remained  in  the  United  States.  There  is 
a  fact  to  quiet  mirth.  Horace  Greeley  knew  merit 
when  he  saw  it.  He  knew  good  work  and  good 
writing,  and  his  opinions  upon  the  members  of 
his  staff  were  always  full  of  matter.  He  has  left 
it  on  record  that  the  new  contributor  won  his 
favour  by  her  solid  merit,  by  her  terse  and  vigor- 
ous writing.  At  first  their  relation  was  one  of 
friendly  antagonism.  Mr.  Greeley  himself  tells 
us  so,  and  that  he  kept  his  eye  clear,  resolute  to 
resist  the  fascination  which,  he  had  heard,  she 
exercised  over  her  former  friends.  On  her  side 
she  considered  her  employer  "  a  man  of  plebeian 
habits,  but  with  a  noble  heart,  his  abilities  in  his 


MARGARET    FULLER  193 

own  way  great,  and  believing  in  hers  to  a  surpris- 
ing extent."  Therefore,  they  became  great  friends. 
After  three  years  she  was  the  one  to  whom  Mr. 
Greeley  wrote,  when  his  little  boy  died :  "  Ah, 
Margaret,  the  world  grows  dark  with  us ;  you 
grieve,  for  Rome  is  fallen ;  I  mourn,  for  Pickie 
is  dead." 

Miss  Fuller  was  placed  in  charge  of  the  literary 
department  of  the  "  Tribune,"  and  whilst  she  held 
sway  in  that  office  she  had  occasion  to  deal  with 
the  writings,  then  coming  out  in  rapid  succession, 
of  Emerson,  Lowell,  Browning,  Elizabeth  Barrett, 
Carlyle,  George  Sand ;  and  it  is  in  her  critical 
analysis  of  them  that  she  first  reveals  her  power. 
One  or  two  illustrations  of  her  method  will  be 
enough. 

An  illustrated  edition  of  Mr.  Longfellow's 
poems  had  just  appeared,  and  it  was  reviewed  by 
her.  It  is  easy  enough  now  to  say  and  to  see 
what  she  then  saw  and  said,  but  it  demanded  in- 
sight to  see  and  courage  to  say  what  was  entirely 
missed  by  that  generation :  "  Longfellow  is  arti- 
ficial and  imitative.  He  borrows  incessantly  and 
mixes  what  he  borrows,  so  that  it  has  a  hollow, 
second-hand  sound.  He  has  a  love  of  the  beauti- 
ful, and  a  fancy  for  what  is  large  and  manly,  if 
not  a  full  sympathy  with  it.   His  verse  breathes 


194  ESSAYS  IN  PURITANISM 

at  times  much  sweetness,  and  though  imitative, 
he  is  not  mechanical.  Nature  with  him,  whether 
human  or  external,  is  always  seen  through  the 
windows  of  literature." 

Lowell  got  his  dose  too :  "  He  is  absolutely 
wanting  in  the  true  spirit  and  tone  of  poesy. 
His  interest  in  the  moral  questions  of  the  day  has 
supplied  the  want  of  vitality  in  himself.  His  great 
facility  at  versification  has  enabled  him  to  fill  the 
ear  with  a  copious  stream  of  pleasant  sound." 
There  are  fables  for  poets  as  well  as  fables  for 
critics. 

Browning  is  introduced  to  the  American  public 
for  the  first  time  in  "  Bells  and  Pomegranates," 
and  with  singular  fitness  the  reviewer  was  com- 
pelled to  send  to  Boston  for  his  poems,  as  they 
could  not  be  obtained  in  New  York.  Miss  Fuller 
recognized  at  once  in  Miss  Barrett's  poetry 
"  vigour  and  nobleness  of  conception,  depth 
of  spiritual  experience  and  command  of  classic 
allusion,  the  vision  of  a  great  poet,  but  little  of 
his  power." 

George  Sand  was  at  that  time  at  the  height  of 
her  fame,  to  some  the  female  incarnation  of  evil, 
to  others  an  inspired  prophetess  ;  but  this  Yankee 
woman  was  not  deceived :  "  George  Sand  smokes, 
wears  male  attire,  wishes  to  be  addressed  as  mon 


MARGARET  FULLER  195 

frere.  Perhaps,  if  she  found  those  who  were  as 
brothers  indeed,  she  would  not  care  whether  she 
were  brother  or  sister.  Those  who  would  reform 
the  world  must  show  that  they  do  not  speak  in 
the  heat  of  wild  impulse;  their  lives  must  be 
imstained  by  passionate  error,  if  they  would  not 
confound  the  fancies  of  a  day  with  the  requisi- 
tions of  eternal  good."  Margaret  Fuller  was 
right.  The  world  is  yet  unreformed,  and  it  is 
not  by  George  Sands  or  George  Eliots  that  the 
work  will  be  done. 

About  this  time,  too,  appeared  her  "  Women 
in  the  Nineteenth  Century."  The  edition  was  sold 
in  a  week,  and  eighty-five  dollars  were  handed 
to  her  as  her  share.  "  This  was  a  most  speaking 
fact ;  "  that  she  could  hear  the  voice,  speaks  for 
her  growing  sense.  The  book  enlarged  her  repu- 
tation and  made  her  name  known  abroad.  It 
proclaimed  her  opinion  of  the  capacity  of  women 
for  a  wide  activity  and  demanded  an  outlet  for 
it :  "  Let  them  be  sea-captains  if  they  will." 

But  her  most  formal  work  was  a  series  of 
papers  on  "American  Art  and  Literature."  In 
the  outset  she  sets  herself  right  by  disarming 
"  critics  who  may  accuse  her  of  writing  about  a 
thing  that  does  not  exist."  She  accords  to  Pres- 
cott  industry,  the  choice  of  valuable  material, 


196  ESSAYS  IN  PURITANISM 

the  power  of  clear  arrangement,  with  an  absence 
of  thought ;  to  Bancroft,  leading  thoughts  by 
whose  aid  he  groups  his  facts.  There  is  the  true 
doctrine  of  history.  Bryant  is  placed  at  the  head 
of  the  poets,  though  his  genius  is  "  neither  fertile 
nor  comprehensive."  Irving,  Cooper,  and  Miss 
Sedgwick  are  spoken  of  with  "  characteristic 
appreciation  ; "  and  finally,  the  Magazine  itself 
comes  in  for  its  share.  "  The  style  of  story  cur- 
rent in  them  is  flimsy  beyond  any  texture  that  was 
spun  or  dreamed  of  by  the  mind  of  man."  It 
would  be  interesting  to  have  her  opinion  of  Haw- 
thorne, who  it  will  be  remembered  declined  at  one 
time  to  dine  with  her  at  Mr.  Bancroft's  house. 

The  way  this  young  woman  talks  back  at 
Carlyle  proves  her  courage,  good  sense,  and  in- 
sight. "  We  shall  not  be  sneered  or  stormed  at," 
she  says,  and  that,  too,  at  the  time  when  Carlyle 
was  yet  alive.  "  If  he  has  become  interested  in 
Oliver  or  any  other  pet  hyena,  by  studying  his 
habits,  is  that  any  reason  why  we  should  admit 
him  to  our  Pantheon?  He  rails  himself  out  of 
breath  at  the  shortsighted,  and  yet  sees  scarce 
a  step  before  him." 

Of  Alfred  de  Vigny,  she  says :  "  To  see  and 
to  tell  with  grace,  often  with  dignity  and  pathos, 
what  he  sees  is  his  proper  vocation  ;  "  of  Beranger : 


MARGARET  FULLER  197 

"  his  wit  is  so  truly  French  in  its  lightness  and 
sparkling  feathery  vivacity,  that  one  like  me,  ac- 
customed to  the  bitterness  of  English  tonics  and 
Byronic  wrath  of  satire,  cannot  appreciate  him  at 
once."  Nor  did  Miss  Fuller  disdain  poetry  on 
her  own  account.  Some  of  it  is  as  good  as  some 
of  George  Eliot's,  though  this  latter  writer  does 
not  usually  pack  into  a  sonnet  line  more  feet  than 
the  law  demands,  a  matter  about  which  Miss 
Fuller  was  not  so  particular. 

All  this  is  good  criticism,  strong  and  keen,  and 
its  author  cannot  have  been  the  absurd  creature 
her  orlorifiers  woidd  have  us  believe.  Even  in  New 
York  they  could  not  leave  her  alone.  She  was  not 
allowed  to  visit  Blackwell's  Island  without  "  shed- 
ding the  balm  of  her  presence  upon  the  hardened 
and  wretched  inmates,  because  she  came  like  the 
great  powers  of  nature  harmonizing  with  all  the 
beauty  of  the  soul  or  of  the  earth."  This  of 
course  is  rubbish.  What  these  people  said  about 
their  own  inward  state  may  have  seemed  to  them 
true  enough ;  they  were  incapable  of  telling  the 
truth  about  the  common  things  of  which  truth 
can  be  told. 

Now  that  we  know  the  nature  of  the  person 
with  whom  we  are  dealing,  we  shall  be  able  to 
estimate  the  value  of  the  words  which  she  employs. 


198  ESSAYS  IN  PURITANISM 

Words  depend  for  their  meaning  upon  the  one 
who  uses  them.  When  Carlyle  said  remorse,  he 
meant  regret ;  when  his  wife  spoke  of  the  cruelties 
she  endured,  she  merely  referred  to  the  ordinary 
inconveniences  of  the  married  state.  Victor  Hugo 
described  Sainte-Beuve  as  an  eagle,  and  a  royal 
meteor ;  but  in  France  all  writers  are  masters,  and 
those  who  attain  to  any  distinction  are  immortal. 
We  find  Tennyson  charging  his  niece  to  reveal  to 
the  world  how  great  a  sacrifice  he  made,  when  at 
length  he  placed  on  his  head  the  coronet  which 
had  been  thrice  pressed  upon  him  and  twice  put 
away.  Artists  in  colours  are  incapable  of  repre- 
senting with  truthfulness  the  things  that  any  one 
can  see.  Artists  in  words,  as  a  rule,  are  unable  to 
tell  of  a  thing  as  it  occurred,  unless  it  be  Thomas 
Campbell,  who  alone  is  remarkable  for  his  fidelity 
to  fact,  as  in  his  relation  in  verse  of  the  founder- 
ing of  a  troop-ship.  But  when  a  literary  artist 
attempts  to  reproduce  in  words  his  own  mental 
processes,  then  it  is  obviously  very  hard  to  con- 
tradict him. 

Margaret  Fuller  set  down  on  paper  a  relation 
of  the  impression  made  upon  her  mind  by  a  man ; 
which  is  to  say  she  wrote  a  series  of  documents 
known  as  love-letters.  Fortunately,  most  persons 
pass  through  that  stage  before  they  have  attained 


MARGARET  FULLER  199 

to  the  power  of  expression,  and  the  emotion  ex- 
pends itself  in  sighs,  in  secret  verse,  and  in  toss- 
ings  to  and  fro.  But  she  had  arrived  at  complete 
fluency  and  produced  a  volume  of  correspondence 
which  is  peculiarly  near  being  nonsense.  The 
letters  are  addressed  to  a  Hamburg  Jew,  Nathan 
by  name,  who  died  not  many  years  ago,  and  they 
have  only  recently  been  made  public,  though  their 
existence  has  always  been  known  to  those  who 
were  interested  in  such  matters.  One  example 
will  help  to  show  the  inconvenience  of  experi- 
encing the  passion  after  the  glory  of  youth  is 
fled,  or  at  any  rate  the  folly  of  simulating  it  in 
the  maturity  of  life.  The  Hebrew  lover  disap- 
pointed the  lady  by  not  coming  to  a  concert  of 
music  at  Horace  Greeley's  house,  and  the  next 
day  he  received  the  following  letter : 

"  The  shades  and  time  of  evening  settled  down 
upon  me  as  dew  upon  the  earth.  You  came  not  — 
And  now  I  realize  that  soon  will  be  the  time  when 
evening  will  come  always,  but  you  will  come  no 
more.  We  shall  meet  in  soul  —  but  the  living  eye 
of  love,  that  is  in  itself  almost  a  soul,  that  will 
beam  no  more.  O  heaven,  O  God,  or  by  what- 
soever name  I  may  appeal,  surely,  surely,  O  All 
Causing,  thou  must  be  all  sustaining,  all  fulfilling 
too.   I,  from  thee  sprung,  do  not  feel  forced  to 


200  ESSAYS  IN  PURITANISM 

bear  so  mucli  as  one  of  these  deep  impulses  in 
vain.  Nor  is  it  enough  that  the  heavenly  magic 
of  its  touch  throws  open  all  the  treasure  chambers 
of  the  universe,  if  these  enchanted  doors  must 
close  again.  Wilt  thou  prepare  for  me  an  image 
fair  and  grand  enough  of  hope?  Give  that  to 
man  at  large,  but  to  me  send  some  little  talisman 
that  may  influence  the  secret  heart.  And  let  it 
have  a  diamond  point  that  may  pierce  without  any 
throb  swells.  I  would  not  stifle  one  single  note, 
only  tune  all  sweet.  My  head  aches  still  and  I 
must  lean  it  on  the  paper  as  I  write,  so  the  writ- 
ing goes  all  amiss." 

As  Mr.  Birrell  says  of  Hazlitt,  we  must  be  on 
our  guard  against  the  sham  raptures  of  literary 
persons,  since  great  gifts  of  expression  always  de- 
mand employment.  At  that  very  moment  the  fas- 
cinating Jew  was  preparing  to  sail  for  Germany. 

In  1846  Miss  Fuller  accomplished  her  desire  to 
visit  Europe.  She  sailed  from  New  York  on  the 
old  Cambria  of  the  Cunard  Line.  Her  biographer 
still  pursues  her,  and  finds  her,  upon  the  moment 
of  landing  in  Liverpool,  paying  a  visit  to  the 
Mechanics'  Institute,  and  afterwards  "  expressing 
appreciation  of  the  British  Museum."  The  casts 
in  the  Boston  Athenaeum,  about  which  we  have 
heard  so  much,  loomed  large  in  those  days. 


^====is=ii^====^  MARGARET  FULLER  201 

The  traveller  visited  Wordsworth  at  his  home, 
and  found  "  a  reverend  old  man,  clothed  in  black, 
and  walking  with  cautious  step  along  the  level 
garden  path."  She  met  Dean  Milman  at  the 
Martineaus',  Dr.  Chalmers  and  De  Quincey  in 
Edinburgh,  and  there  saw  the  portrait  of  "  hate- 
ful old  John  Knox,  and  his  wife  who  was  like 
him." 

During  an  excursion  to  the  Highlands,  Miss 
Fuller  had  a  misadventure  and  passed  the  night 
on  the  hills  in  a  Scottish  mist,  and  was  none  the 
worse  for  it.  This  would  appear  to  dispose  of 
the  fiction  of  her  frail  health.  Returning  to 
England,  she  was  soon  installed  in  London ;  it 
was  the  London,  and  those  were  the  days,  of 
Dickens,  Thackeray,  Sidney  Smith,  Moore,  Lord 
Brougham,  the  Duke  of  Wellington,  and  Car- 
lyle. 

Miss  Fuller  began  in  a  small  way  by  visiting 
Joanna  Baillie,  and  then  felt  competent  to  pre- 
sent her  letter  of  introduction  from  Emerson  to 
Carlyle.  It  does  not  matter  now  what  Margaret 
thought  of  Carlyle,  though  she  did  say  two  or 
three  things  that  seem  very  probable  ;  it  matters 
a  great  deal  towards  our  enquiry  what  Carlyle 
thought  of  her,  for  he  had  some  knowledge  of 
women  and  knew  a  fool  when  he  saw  one.   He 


202  ESSAYS  IN  PURITANISM 

has  put  it  on  record  that  he  and  Mrs.  Carlyle 
held  Miss  Fuller  in  real  regard,  that  he  found 
in  her  papers  "  something  greatly  superior  to  all 
I  knew  before,  in  fact,  the  undeniable  utterances 
(now  first  undeniable  to  me)  of  a  true  heroic 
mind,  altogether  unique  as  far  as  I  know  among 
the  writing  women  of  this  generation,  rare  enough 
too,  God  knows,  among  the  writing  men.  She  is 
very  narrow  sometimes,  but  she  is  truly  high. 
Honour  to  Margaret  and  more  and  more  speed 
to  her."  Honour  to  Margaret,  to  the  real  Mar- 
garet, not  the  ridiculous  precieuse  of  the  New 
England  coterie. 

Two  other  persons  she  knew  before  going  to 
Paris :  Mazzini  intimately ;  and  casually,  "  a 
witty,  French,  flippant  sort  of  a  man,  who  told 
stories  admirably,  and  served  a  good  purpose 
by  interrupting  Carlyle' s  harangues."  This  could 
be  none  other  than  George  Henry  Lewes.  The 
meeting  with  Mazzini  was  a  fateful  one  to  her. 

In  Paris  Miss  Fuller  was  not  unknown,  for 
translations  of  her  social  studies  had  appeared  in 
the  "  Revue  Independante."  She  was  at  once 
taken  up  by  George  Sand,  and  introduced  to 
Chopin,  with  whom  that  illustrious  moralist  had 
formed  an  "  alliance  "  —  that.  Sir  Leslie  Stephen 
believed  to  be  the  correct  word  to  employ  in  such 


MARGARET   FULLER  203 

cases.  It  is  altogether  likely  that  much  which 
went  on  in  that  household  was  concealed  from  the 
short-sighted  vision  of  this  middle-aged  Puritan 
maiden.  It  was  no  place  for  her  —  if  we  can 
trust  Browning's  description  of  the  society  which 
was  to  be  encountered  there :  "  the  ragged  red, 
diluted  with  the  low  theatrical ;  men  who  worship 
George  Sand  a  genou  has,  between  an  oath  and 
an  ejection  of  saliva."  Artists  resemble  Calvin- 
ists  in  this  respect  alone,  that  they  have  a  com- 
mon tendency  to  fall  into  the  Antinomian  heresy 
of  John  Agricola,  and  hold  themselves  superior 
to  the  obligations  of  the  moral  law ;  of  course,  the 
mental  process  by  which  they  arrive  at  this  com- 
forting conclusion  is  not  identical  in  each  case. 
The  great  musician  played  to  her,  and  Mickiewicz 
talked  to  her  whilst  the  music  was  going  on.  She 
heard  the  debates  in  the  Assembly  and  saw  the 
Queen  at  a  ball;  also  Leverrier,  the  discoverer 
of  Neptune,  "  wandering  about  as  if  he  had  lost, 
not  found,  a  planet."  That  is  what  might  be 
called  "  smart." 

From  all  this  it  wiU  appear  that  Miss  Fuller 
was  a  person  of  some  consideration  in  the  highest 
literary  circles  of  Europe.  But  we  must  not  over- 
rate the  importance  of  this.  Literary  people,  as 
a  rule,  are  ignorant  of  many  things,  and  easily 


204:  ESSAYS  IN  PURITANISM 

swayed  one  way  or  the  other  by  influences  of 
slight  force.  It  may  have  been  that  they  were 
carried  away  by  wonder,  not  that  Margaret  Fuller 
could  write  so  well,  but  that  this  outland  stranger 
of  unprepossessing  appearance  and  nasal  voice 
was  a  woman  and  could  write  at  all  —  like  Dr. 
Johnson  when  he  saw  the  dancing  bear. 

In  May,  1847,  Margaret  Fuller  arrived  in 
Rome,  having  come  by  way  of  Marseilles,  Genoa, 
and  Naples.  There  she  remained  two  months, 
and  then  proceeded  northward  by  way  of  Perugia, 
Florence,  Ravenna,  and  Venice,  to  Milan.  From 
that  place  she  visited  the  Italian  lakes,  went  on 
to  Switzerland,  and  returned  to  Milan  early  in 
September,  and  to  Rome  by  way  of  Florence 
near  the  end  of  October.  At  Lake  Como  she 
enjoyed  the  society  of  the  Marchesa  Arconati 
Visconti,  whom  she  had  previously  met  in  Flor- 
ence. The  impression  she  made  upon  the  accom- 
plished Italian  is  recorded  in  a  letter  from  that 
lady  to  Emerson : 

"  Je  n'ai  point  rencontre,  dans  ma  vie,  de  f  emme 
plus  noble,  ayant  autant  de  sympathie  pour  ses 
semblables,  et  dont  I'esprit  fut  plus  vivifiant. 
Je  me  suis  tout  de  suite  sentie  attiree  par  elle. 
Quand  je  fis  sa  connaissance,  j'ignorais  que  ce  fut 
une  femme  remarquable." 


MARGARET  FULLER  205 

Though  Miss  Fuller  had  now  been  in  Italy  less 
than  half  a  year,  and  that  spent  mostly  in  travel- 
ling, she  had  already  gained  the  complete  con- 
fidence and  esteem  of  Young  Italy,  the  revolu- 
tionary party,  whose  watchword  was  the  unifica- 
tion of  the  Italian  States  into  a  republic.  This 
intimacy  was  but  natural,  for  a  strong  bond  of 
sympathy  had  been  established  between  her  and 
Mazzini  in  London.  Being  interested  in  ideas 
herself,  she  enjoyed  the  company  of  these  young 
radicals,  and  as  she  belonged  to  a  republic,  and 
as  a  republic  was  believed  to  have  something  to 
do  with  liberty,  they  had  much  in  common.  In- 
asmuch as  Miss  Fuller's  future  was  afterwards 
bound  up  with  theirs,  and  as  out  of  this  union 
arose  the  tragedy  of  her  life,  it  will  be  necessary 
to  indicate  briefly  the  posture  of  public  affairs. 

At  the  collapse  of  the  fabric  which  Napoleon 
had  so  painfully  reared,  the  little  Italian  sover- 
eigns returned  from  their  exile  more  resolute  than 
ever  in  tyranny,  with  Austria  approving  of  their 
reign  of  terror.  Tyranny  was  met  with  con- 
spiracy, and  revolt  with  vengeance.  This  state 
of  affairs  lasted  till  1847.  Most  men  were  agreed 
that  a  change  must  come ;  there  was  no  agree- 
ment as  to  what  that  change  should  be.  Italy 
must  be  unified ;  one  party  was  for  unity  under 


206  ESSAYS  IN  PURITANISM 

republican  forms,  another  party  was  in  favour  of 
a  limited  monarchy.  Mazzini  was  for  a  republic, 
Cavour  and  Garibaldi  put  their  trust  in  a  king. 
The  faith  of  Cavour  and  Garibaldi  was  afterwards 
justified,  but  only  through  much  shedding  of 
blood.  The  revolution  in  France,  which  drove 
Louis  Philippe  from  the  throne  in  February, 
1848,  encouraged  Mazzini  and  his  friends.  Some 
months  previously,  the  miracle  of  all  miracles 
had  happened ;  a  gleam  of  political  sense  eman- 
ated from  the  papal  throne.  Pius  IX  declared 
himself  a  liberal ;  he  proclaimed  a  political  am- 
nesty ;  he  organized  a  national  guard,  and  began 
to  form  a  constitution  for  the  Roman  State. 

Things  looked  promising  for  Mazzini  and  his 
friends,  and  Margaret  Fuller  was  of  their  num- 
ber. Another  of  her  friends  was  the  Marchese 
Ossoli,  a  young  Eoman  of  twenty-eight,  of  a  noble 
but  impoverished  house.  In  less  than  two  months 
the  pope  had  fled  from  Rome,  and  was  breathing 
out  threats  of  excommunication  against  his  recent 
allies.  In  February,  1849,  Rome  was  declared  a 
republic  under  three  dictators,  with  Mazzini  at 
their  head.  A  few  days  later  the  dictators  escaped 
on  board  a  British  warship ;  in  April,  the  French 
were  at  the  gates  of  Rome,  and  after  a  successful 
assault  held  the  city  for  the  pope.    The  dream 


MARGARET  FULLER  207 

was  at  an  end.  Margaret  Fuller  had  "  played  for 
a  new  stake  and  lost  it."  That  was  her  view 
of  the  case  as  contained  in  a  letter  to  Emerson, 
dated  July  8,  1849.  What  was  the  nature  of 
that  "  play  "  ? 

Shortly  after  her  arrival  in  Rome,  in  the  spring 
of  1847,  Miss  Fuller,  on  the  evening  of  Holy 
Thursday,  went  to  vespers  at  Saint  Peter's  with 
some  friends.  The  party  became  separated  and 
she  was  at  a  loss  what  to  do.  "  Presently  a  young 
man  of  gentlemanly  address  came  up  to  her,  and 
begged,  if  she  were  seeking  any  one,  that  he  might 
be  permitted  to  assist  her."  At  last  it  became 
evident  beyond  a  doubt  that  the  party  could  no 
longer  be  there,  and  as  it  was  then  quite  late  and 
the  crowd  all  gone,  they  went  into  the  piazza  to 
find  a  carriage.  There  were  no  carriages,  so 
Margaret  was  compelled  to  walk  with  her  stranger 
friend  the  long  distance  between  the  Vatican  and 
the  Corso.  At  her  door  they  parted,  and  Mar- 
garet, finding  her  friends  already  at  home,  related 
the  adventure.  This  is  Mrs.  Story's  account. 
This  chance  acquaintance  was  the  Marchese 
Ossoli.  Within  a  few  weeks  he  made  an  offer  of 
marriage,  which  was  declined,  and  Miss  Fuller 
left  for  the  North.  They  met  again  in  the  follow- 
ing November,  the  offer  was  renewed,  and  within 


208  ESSAYS  IN  PURITANISM 

a  few  weeks  the  pair  were  married.    When,  where, 
or  by  whom,  we  do  not  know  to  this  day. 

"  I  have  heard  that  from  the  beginning,"  says 
Emerson,  "Margaret  Fuller  idealized  herself  as 
a  sovereign.  She  told  a  friend  that  she  early  saw 
herself  to  be  intellectually  superior  to  those 
around  her,  that  for  years  she  dwelt  upon  the  idea 
that  she  was  not  her  parents'  child,  but  an 
European  princess  confided  to  their  care."  Here, 
then,  was  an  opportunity  ready  at  hand  for  realiz- 
ing this  very  un-American  ideal.  If  the  revolu- 
tion had  succeeded,  as  seemed  not  at  all  unlikely 
to  the  revolutionists,  she  would  have  come  pretty 
near  being  a  "  European  princess  "  —  at  any  rate 
she  would  have  been  the  first  lady  in  the  land,  and 
that  is  closer  than  one  usually  comes  to  the  real- 
ization of  one's  childish  fancies. 

This  is  not  offered  as  the  whole  explanation  of 
Miss  Fuller's  conduct  —  the  motives  for  any  mar- 
riage are  never  very  simple  —  but  it  is  a  pretty 
good  guess  at  her  central  thought.  All  we  know 
of  the  Marchese  is  entirely  to  his  credit,  and  it  is 
altogether  probable  that  Miss  Fuller,  "  wearied 
with  the  over-intellection  and  restless  aspu'ation 
of  the  accomplished  New  Englander  of  that  time, 
found  in  the  simple  geniality  of  the  Italian  na- 
ture all  the  charm  and  novelty  of  contrast."   Let 


MARGARET  FULLER  209 

us  hasten  to  add  that  no  word  ever  escaped  her 
or  her  friends,  that  would  indicate  the  least  re- 
gret for  her  hasty  action. 

The  action  was  hasty.  In  May,  1847,  let  us 
repeat,  she  arrived  in  Kome  for  the  first  time, 
and  remained  only  two  months.  She  was  back 
again  in  Kome  at  the  end  of  October,  and  her 
child  was  born  on  the  5th  of  September  follow- 
ing. That  would  be  considered  hasty  in  Ameri- 
can society  in  these  days  at  any  rate. 

The  central  fact  in  the  life  of  Margaret  Fuller 
is,  as  in  the  life  of  most  women,  that  she  married 
and  became  a  mother,  and  it  made  a  correspond- 
ing noise.  The  whole  proceeding  was  perfectly 
regular,  natural,  and  simple.  She  gives  us  a 
straightforward  and  truthful  account  of  the  se- 
quence of  events,  which  is  entirely  convincing 
until  her  friends  begin  to  supply  evidence  upon 
a  subject  on  which  no  evidence  was  needed.  That 
makes  us  ask,  not  what  they  say,  but  what  they 
can  prove. 

Durins:  the  winter  in  Rome  after  the  child  was 
born,  when  her  trouble  was  sore  upon  her,  the 
Marchesa,  as  she  now  was,  sent  for  Mrs.  Story, 
wife  of  William  Wetmore  Story,  the  sculptor, 
and  confided  the  "  secret  "  to  her.  She  also  gave 
to  her  confidante  certain  papers  and  parchment 


210  ESSAYS  IN   PURITANISM 

documents  to  keep,  in  view  of  her  death,  which 
she  feared  was  impending.  Mrs.  Story,  with 
laudable  self-abnegation,  declined  to  read  the 
papers,  save  one  or  two,  though  she  had  perfect 
liberty  to  do  so.  We  could  now  wish  that  she 
had  read  them  all,  and  informed  us  of  her  re- 
searches, or  else  kept  absolutely  quiet  about  the 
matter. 

At  the  time  of  Mr.  Higginson's  writing,  he 
had  before  him  Mrs.  Story's  original  letter,  and 
on  the  strength  of  it  states  that  Margaret  showed 
to  Mrs.  Story  the  certificate  of  her  marriage  with 
Ossoli.  This  same  letter  had  been  published  long 
before  in  the  Memoirs.  All  that  Mrs.  Story  tells 
in  the  letter  is,  that,  at  the  time  of  handing  over 
the  packet,  they  read  together  a  document  written 
in  Latin  on  a  piece  of  parchment.  The  utmost 
she  claims  is  that  it  was  a  certificate  given  by  a 
priest  to  the  effect  that  Angelo  Eugene  Ossoli  — 
the  name  of  the  child  was  Angelo  Eugene  Philip 
—  was  the  legal  heir  to  whatever  fortune  and  title 
should  come  to  his  father.  To  this  was  affixed 
his  seal,  with  those  of  the  other  witnesses,  and  the 
Ossoli  "  crest  "  was  drawn  in  full  upon  the  paper. 
This  is  the  relation,  and  this  is  the  document  to 
which  Mr.  Higginson  refers  as  a  marriage  certi- 
ficate, with  Mrs.   Story's  original  letter  before 


MARGARET  FULLER  211 

him.  If  this  be  offered  as  evidence,  then  it  is  fair 
to  say  it  is  no  evidence  at  aU.  Mrs.  Story  prob- 
ably could  not  read  Latin,  especially  the  Latin 
likely  to  be  written  by  an  Italian  priest  of  those 
days ;  the  document,  according  to  her  showing, 
could  not  have  been  a  marriage  certificate,  for 
the  name  of  the  heir  is  not  usually  specified  in 
such  writings;  the  "crest"  drawn  in  full  upon 
the  paper  does  not  increase  its  authenticity, 
and  the  witnesses  were  witnesses  —  to  what  ? 

When  the  crisis  was  past,  the  papers  were 
returned  to  the  Marchesa,  and  were  lost  in  the 
final  disaster.  In  her  own  writings,  so  far  as 
published  up  to  this  time,  Margaret  assigns  no 
date  to  her  marriage,  though  she  probably  gave 
the  details  in  a  "little  book"  which  perished 
with  her.  Her  friends  conclude,  on  purely  physi- 
ological grounds,  that  it  took  place  on  or  before 
December  5,  1847.  Therein  lies  the  penalty  of 
all  secret  marriages. 

The  motives  for  keeping  the  marriage  a  secret 
are  perfectly  obvious.  The  old  Marchese  Ossoli 
was  about  to  die  and  the  patrimony  to  be  divided. 
He  had  three  sons,  one  employed  in  the  Papal 
Court  as  Secretary  of  the  Privy  Council,  one  as 
a  member  of  the  Guard ;  the  third  and  youngest 
was  on  the  side  of  the  Revolution;  he  was  a 


212  ESSAYS  IN  PURITANISM 

Catholic,  married  in  secret  to  a  Protestant ;  the 
courts,  civil  and  ecclesiastic,  were  in  the  hands  of 
his  enemies.  Above  all,  the  success  of  his  cause 
was  not  yet  assured. 

The  situation  of  the  woman  was  pitiable.   Mar- 
ried in  secret,  and  secrecy  in  such  cases  carries 
shame ;  without  a  friend  to  share  her  trouble,  in 
the  midst  of  the  alarms  of  war,  her  husband's  life 
in  peril,  she  retired  to  the  mountains  of  Rieta  in 
poverty  and  solitude,  and  there  endured  the  curse 
of  Eve  and  inherited  the  blessing.    In  seven  weeks 
the   brave  New   England   woman   was  back  in 
Rome,  and  spent  the  momentous  winter  of  1848 
in  the  city,  with  occasional  visits  to  Rieta,  where 
she  had  left  her  child  in  the  hands  of  attendants 
who  proved  both  cruel  and  treacherous.   In  April 
came  the  horrors  of  the  siege;   long  days  and 
nights  in  hospitals  filled  with  wounded  and  fever- 
stricken,  her  husband  at  his  post  of  danger  on  the 
walls,  and  she  at  times  by  his  side.   There  was  the 
real  Margaret  Fuller,  the  Puritan  woman  in  her 
New  England  heroism  and  austerity.   By  the  first 
of  July  all  was  at  an  end ;  at  an  end,  too,  all 
foolish  dreams  of  unreal   greatness.    Then  she 
wrote  the  whole  story  to  her  mother. 

The  friends  of  Margaret  Ossoli  were  naturally 
much  surprised,  but  most  of  them  were  too  well 


MARGARET  FULLER  213 

bred  to  manifest  it.  Her  mother  sent  her  words 
of  comfort  and  expressions  of  endearment.  The 
Marchesa  Arconati  loved  her  the  more,  "  now  that 
we  can  sympathize  as  mothers."  To  Mr.  Story, 
who  appears  not  to  have  received  the  secret  from 
his  wife,  she  wrote,  "  Moral  writers  cannot  exag- 
gerate the  dangers  and  plagues  of  keeping 
secrets ; "  and  she  had  brotherly  love  in  return. 
There  was  at  this  time  a  large  colony  of  her  fel- 
low countrymen  in  Italy,  for  we  have  heard  her 
desiring:  to  be  delivered  from  the  sound  of  the 
English  language ;  and  from  them  she  received 
every  consideration.  At  home,  she  complains, 
there  was  some  meddling  curiosity.  Her  letters, 
written  during  the  period  when  the  marriage  was 
yet  unacknowledged,  have  a  curious  interest,  par- 
ticularly those  addressed  to  Emerson.  They  are 
singularly  truthful  and  sincere,  and  yet  disclose 
nothing. 

Notwithstanding  the  loss  of  the  intellectual 
riches  of  New  England,  those  days  of  Italian 
poverty  were  Margaret's  happiest  days.  In  a  let- 
ter to  her  sister,  the  wife  of  William  Ellery  Chan- 
ning,  she  says :  "  In  my  child  I  find  satisfaction 
for  the  first  time  to  the  deep  wants  of  my  heart." 
She  dwells  upon  the  purity  and  simple  strength 
of  her  husband's  character.    "He  is  capable  of 


214  ESSAYS  IN  PURITANISM 

sacred  love  ;  he  showed  it  to  his  father,  to  Rome, 
to  me  ;  now  he  loves  his  child  in  the  same  way." 
To  her  mother  she  wrote :  "  Of  all  that  is  con- 
tained in  books  he  is  entirely  ignorant,  yet  he 
has  excellent  practical  sense,  a  very  sweet  temper 
and  great  native  refinement.  I  have  never  suf- 
fered a  pain  that  he  could  relieve ;  his  devotion 
when  I  am  ill  is  to  be  compared  only  with  yours." 
This  is  not  a  bad  assemblage  of  qualities  in  a 
husband,  and  her  testimony  is  confirmed  by  all 
the  Americans  in  Italy  who  knew  him,  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Story,  Lewis  Cass,  W.  H.  Hurlbut,  Horace 
Sumner,  Mozier,  Chapman,  and  the  Greenoughs. 

The  family  remained  nearly  a  year  in  Italy 
after  the  fall  of  Rome,  chiefly  in  Florence.  Of 
this  halcyon  time  Mr.  Hurlbut,  consul  at  Turin, 
gives  rather  a  free  account.  He  admires  their 
domestic  life  without  stint,  and  gives  a  pretty 
picture  of  Ossoli,  seated  by  his  wife,  dressed  in 
a  dark  brown  coat,  reading  some  patriotic  book. 
Mr.  Hurlbut  always  found  him  at  home,  save 
when  a  number  of  American  and  English  visitors 
came  in.  On  those  occasions  he  used  to  take  his 
leave  and  go  to  the  cafe,  but  we  must  not  blame 
him  too  severely  for  that. 

Neither  Margaret  nor  her  husband,  nor  both 
together,  possessed  the  six  hundred  dollars  a  year 


MARGARET   FULLER  215 

necessary  for  living  in  Italy,  and  as  all  avenues 
of  employment  were  closed  to  him  on  account  of 
his  birth  and  politics,  the  pair  turned  their  faces 
to  America,  where  the  wife  with  rare  courage 
proposed  to  take  up  the  burden  on  behalf  of  her 
own  family,  which  she  had  borne  with  such  fidelity 
for  her  father's. 

From  motives  of  economy,  they  sailed  from 
Leghorn  in  the  merchant  ship  Elizabeth,  a  barque 
commanded  by  Captain  Hasty ;  it  was  the  17th 
of  May,  1850,  before  the  ship  got  under  weigh. 
Before  Gibraltar  was  reached,  the  captain  lay 
dead  of  the  small-pox,  and  on  the  ocean  voyage 
the  child  contracted  the  disease,  but  recovered 
handsomely. 

On  Tuesday,  the  18th  of  July,  the  Elizabeth 
was  off  Navesink  on  the  Jersey  coast ;  the  weather 
thick,  the  wind  from  south  of  east.  To  make  a 
good  offing  and  in  the  morning  run  down  before 
the  wind,  past  Sandy  Hook,  the  mate,  who  was 
now  in  command,  stood  to  the  east  of  north,  sail- 
ing well  in  the  wind.  By  nine  o'clock  a  stiff 
breeze  was  blowing;  it  grew  into  a  gale,  and  by 
midnight  the  weather  was  very  heavy.  The  Eliza- 
beth was  now  under  reefed  lower  sails  and  head- 
sails,  everything  aloft  made  snug,  and  all  hands 
on  deck.    The  gale  increased  to  such  a  hurricane 


216  ESSAYS   IN  PURITANISM 

as  had  not  been  known  for  years,  and  what  with 
wind  and  what  with  tide,  the  master  of  the  Eliza- 
beth overran  his  course,  drifting  to  leeward  all 
the  time,  and  piled  up  his  ship  about  four  in 
the  morning  on  Fire  Island,  the  grave  of  many 
another  good  craft  before  and  since.  The  main 
and  mizzen  were  cut  away,  but  in  spite  of  the 
relief  the  bow  held  hard ;  the  stern  swung  round 
till  the  barque  was  broadside  and  hard  aground, 
and  the  seas  made  a  clear  breach  over  her.  The 
heavy  cargo  of  marble  went  through  the  bilge, 
and  now  the  Elizabeth  was  at  the  mercy  of  the 
sea.  Between-decks  everything  was  awash,  and 
the  few  passengers  were  huddled  together  to  wind- 
ward. By  daybreak  they  gained  the  shelter  of 
the  forecastle  and  saw  the  shore  not  a  cable's 
length  away,  with  wreckers  and  their  wagons 
ready  for  salvage,  but  not  for  rescue.  By  noon, 
eight  hours  after  the  stranding,  a  lifeboat  arrived 
from  Fire  Island,  which  was  less  than  four  miles 
away,  but  not  the  slightest  attempt  was  made  to 
launch  it.  Davis,  the  mate,  behaved  most  credit- 
ably, according  to  his  own  story.  He  devised 
a  plan  of  escape  and  proved  its  efficacy  by  swim- 
ming ashore  in  company  with  the  widow  of  his 
late  captain ;  all  but  four  of  the  crew  also  proved 
its  feasibility;   the  plan  was  primitive,  though 


MARGARET  FULLER  217 

practicable,  and  yet  not  the  slightest  attempt  was 
made  to  launch  the  lifeboat  into  a  sea  in  which 
men  could  swim  with  safety.  By  three  o'clock 
the  cabin  had  gone  adrift,  the  stern  settled  down, 
the  forecastle  filled,  and  the  refugees  were  driven 
to  the  open  deck,  where  they  were  soon  huddled 
about  the  foremast.  Presently  this  went  by  the 
board,  carrying  the  decks  away.  Two  remaining 
members  of  the  crew  swam  ashore  and  two  were 
drowned ;  the  steward  seized  the  child  and 
l^lunged  in ;  their  bodies  were  washed  ashore  a 
few  minutes  later.  Margaret  and  her  husband 
went  down  together.  The  mate  said  it  was  their 
own  fault ;  that  is  what  he  might  have  been 
expected  to  say.  Their  bodies  were  never  recov- 
ered. When  the  lifeboatmen  were  derided  for 
their  cowardice,  they  excused  themselves  by 
saying  they  did  not  know  there  was  any  one  of 
importance  on  board. 

The  story  of  life-saving  on  the  coast  of  the 
United  States  goes  back  to  1786,  when  Noyes, 
the  blind  physician  of  Boston,  organized  the 
Humane  Society  of  the  Commonwealth  of  Mas- 
sachusetts. The  National  Congress  laid  its  para- 
lyzing hand  upon  the  movement  in  1849,  by 
passing  an  appropriation  of  ten  thousand  dollars 
for  the  work ;  until  1876,  the  service  was  put  to 


218  ESSAYS  IN  PURITANISM 

the  basest  uses  by  the  politicians,  and  during 
that  unhappy  period  more  vessels  than  the  Eliza- 
beth were  sacrificed  to  the  greed  of  the  crippled 
and  degenerate  proteges  of  the  politicians. 

This  was  the  end  of  the  tragedy  of  Margaret 
Fuller's  life.  The  real  tragedy  would  have 
begun,  had  she  had  to  commence  again  her  life 
with  a  foreign  husband  in  New  England. 

If  we  possessed  only  the  record  of  Margaret 
Fuller's  life  from  the  time  she  left  Boston  and 
came  under  the  sane  influence  of  the  editor  of 
the  "  Tribune,"  until  its  untimely  end,  we  should 
miss  much  of  the  pathology  of  hysteria  as  mani- 
fested in  herself,  in  other  women,  and  in  the  men 
amongst  their  friends  who  were  like  women ;  but 
this  record  would  show  her  to  be  entirely  admir- 
able. This  normal  life  covered  less  than  five 
years.  She  died  at  the  age  of  forty.  George 
Eliot  was  older  than  that  when  her  first  notable 
work  appeared  ;  Madame  de  Stael  was  forty-one, 
and  George  Sand  nearly  as  old. 

It  is  useless  to  speculate  upon  what  Margaret 
Fuller  might  have  accomplished  had  life  been 
spared  to  her.  Nothing  is  more  futile  than  such 
speculations.  If  Kingsley  had  ceased  writing  at 
thirty-six,  and  Mr.  Kipling  had  succumbed  to  his 
attack  of  pneumonia  in  New  York,  their  names 


MARGARET   FULLER  219 

would  be  held  in  mysterious  reverence ;  and  the 
public  would  busy  itself  with  wonder  as  to  the 
nature  of  their  future  accomplishments  and  with 
lamentations  at  their  untimely  fate.  The  public 
mind  would  surely  have  been  wrong ;  probably  it 
is  wrong  also  in  surmising  that  Margaret  Fuller 
might  have  accomplished  something. 

Poor  Chatterton  understood  the  import  of  this. 
Sad  indeed  his  fate,  but  sadder  still,  had  he  lived 
to  see  his  pure  stream  stagnant  in  the  sand,  or 
contracted  into  a  brawling  brook. 

All  we  can  say,  to  conclude  the  matter,  is  that 
the  personality  of  Margaret  Fuller  was  a  romantic 
one,  that  she  and  her  friends  were  in  the  habit 
of  talking  romantically  about  it,  that  is,  without 
enquiring  too  clearly  into  the  truth  of  what  they 
said ;  that  romantic  things  really  did  occur,  and 
that,  with  the  irony  usual  in  such  cases,  nothing 
came  of  it  after  all. 


IV 
WALT   WHITMAN 


WALT   WHITMAN 

In  the  year  1855,  a  thin  quarto  volume  was  pub- 
lished in  Brooklyn.  It  was  entitled  "  Leaves  of 
Grass,"  and  the  author's  name  was  given  as 
Walt  Whitman.  The  little  book  contained  about 
a  dozen  poems,  or  "  pieces,"  as  the  contents  were 
designated  by  the  writer,  and  it  was  ill  received 
by  the  public  to  whom  it  was  addressed. 

Most  persons  who  are  capable  of  forming  an 
opinion  upon  such  matters  are  now  agreed  that 
"  Leaves  of  Grass  "  was  the  most  important  work 
in  poetry  which  had  appeared  in  the  United 
States  up  to  that  time,  and  that  the  author,  Walt 
Whitman,  is  a  poet  in  very  truth,  with  all  the 
rights  and  privileges  pertaining  to  that  order. 
Indeed,  there  are  some  who  hold  that  he  is  the 
greatest  of  American  poets ;  that  is,  if  one  poet 
can  with  any  degree  of  justness  be  compared  with 
another. 

This  question  of  the  relative  importance  of 
poets,  it  is  unnecessary  to  discuss,  even  if  it  were 
possible  to  arrive  at  a  decision  in  such  a  case. 
The  present  business  is  to  enquire  how  it  was 


224  ESSAYS  IN  PURITANISM 

that  the  generation  to  which  Whitman  spoke 
was  so  blind  to  the  beauty  of  his  poetry,  and  so 
insensible  to  the  significance  of  his  philosophical 
speculations,  as  to  greet  him  with  execration  or 
laughter.  This  task  will  involve  some  consider- 
ation of  the  poetry  itself,  some  estimate  of  the 
personality  of  the  writer,  and  obviously,  some 
comment  upon  the  people  amongst  whom  he 
lived. 

When  a  new  method  of  literary  presentation  is 
put  forward,  those  persons  whose  business  it  is  to 
inform  and  direct  the  public  mind  have  legiti- 
mate employment,  but  the  effect  of  their  criti- 
cism is  merely  for  the  time  being.  A  critic  is 
always  correct  in  his  judgement  of  cases  about 
which  it  does  not  matter  much  whether  he  is 
right  or  wrong.  In  the  unusual  case,  which  does 
matter,  he  is  sure  to  be  wrong,  because  the  prin- 
ciples by  which  ordinarily  he  comes  to  a  conclu- 
sion fail  to  apply.  He  sees  a  man  who  is  off  the 
beaten  path,  and  by  all  the  rules  and  directions 
that  man  has  lost  his  way.  The  critics  must  go 
safely  in  the  middle  of  the  road.  They  have  an 
office  to  perform  and  a  reputation  to  sustain; 
the  eulogists  are  under  no  necessity  beyond 
gratifying  their  own  good-nature. 

All  things  pertaining  to  literature  will  right 


WALT  WHITMAN  225 

themselves  if  they  be  given  time.  The  value  of 
all  discussion,  whether  it  be  in  the  public  speech 
of  the  political  assembly  or  in  printed  words,  lies 
in  this,  namely,  that  the  matter  is  kept  in  a  con- 
dition of  flux  until  it  is  entirely  ready  to  assume 
a  permanent  form.  Most  literature  and  all  crit- 
icism is  merely  talk  about  things.  What  was 
said  of  Whitman  —  the  railing  of  his  enemies, 
the  adulation  of  his  friends  —  is  of  value  only  as 
an  expression  of  the  current  thought  of  the  time ; 
it  had  no  influence  in  shaping  the  estimate  in 
which  he  will  finally  be  held.  If  men  do  not  un- 
derstand what  a  poet  says,  no  amount  of  comment 
will  enlighten  them.  Poets  have  perceptions,  but 
no  matter  how  great  their  capacity  for  resolving 
those  perceptions  into  words,  they  have  little 
power  of  compelling  others  to  see  immediately  as 
they  see.  The  most  they  can  do  is  to  persuade 
men  to  open  their  eyes.  In  time,  somehow,  men's 
eyes  do  get  opened,  and  they  see  things  which 
the  poet  saw  long  before.  Then  they  say  that  the 
thing  is  true,  and  that  the  man  is  a  poet.  The 
value  of  criticism,  then,  is  that  it  reflects  contem- 
porary thought,  or  rather  discloses  the  main  drift 
of  it.  At  its  worst,  it  reveals  the  writer  of  it ;  at 
its  best,  it  elucidates  the  opinions  which  were  held 
by  the  generation  for  which  it  assumes  to  speak. 


226  ESSAYS  IN  PURITANISM 

This,  in  the  main,  is  true  of  all  poetry  and 
of  all  comment  upon  it.  De  Quincey,  who  was 
one  of  Wordsworth's  earliest  friends  and  ad- 
mirers, had  occasion  to  quote  one  of  his  splen- 
did passages,  which  contains  the  noble  descrip- 
tion: 

There,  towers  begirt 
With  battlements,  that  on  their  restless  fronts 
Bore  stars. 

Yet  De  Quincey  felt  constrained  to  refer  to 
Wordsworth  merely  as  "a  great  modern  poet," 
and  would  not  formally  mention  his  name.  "  I 
shrunk  with  disgust,"  he  said,  "from  making 
any  sentence  of  mine  the  occasion  of  an  explosion 
of  vulgar  malice  against  him."  Burns's  poems, 
when  they  first  appeared,  were,  in  the  judgement 
of  the  leading  authority  of  the  English-speaking 
world,  "  nothing  more  than  disgusting  nonsense 
written  in  an  unknown  tongue."  To  the  same 
reviewers  the  "  Ancient  Mariner  "  was  "  a  rhap- 
sody of  unintelligible  wildness  and  incoherence ; " 
"  Christabel  "  was  rude  and  unfeatured ;  "  Tin- 
tern  Abbey  "  was  "  tinctured  with  gloomy,  nar- 
row, and  unsociable  ideas  of  seclusion  from  the 
commerce  of  the  world."  The  only  world  which 
these  reviewers  knew  anything  about  was  the 
mechanical   world   of   their   own   Adam  Smith. 


WALT  WHITMAN  227 

Utopia  and  Paradise  were  less  desirable  to  them 
than  a  well-contrived  iron  mill,  with  its  due 
observance  of  the  eternal  relations  between  the 
various  kinds  of  capital,  and  proper  division  of 
labour,  with  due  profits  upon  its  stock. 

In  the  case  of  Walt  Whitman,  too,  the  wise 
men  were  singularly  unanimous  in  their  judge- 
ment ;  and  as  it  afterwards  turned  out,  they  were 
mainly  in  the  wrong.  They  were  also  wilfully, 
and,  upon  the  whole,  viciously  harsh.  They  were, 
as  usual,  under  the  domination  of  their  time  ;  yet 
in  the  end,  when  we  understand  all  the  circum- 
stances of  the  case,  we  shall  not  blame  them,  any 
more  than  we  blame  the  leaders  of  public  opinion 
upon  that  celebrated  occasion  which  arose  in 
Judaea.  Indeed,  there  is  something  worthy  of 
admiration  in  the  conduct  of  any  set  of  Pharisees 
who  resist  a  doctrine  which  they  believe  to  be 
false.  To  the  generation  which  lived  half  a  cen- 
tury ago,  Walt  Whitman  was  nothing  more  than 
the  son  of  a  carpenter,  born  of  themselves,  a  man 
who  spent  his  life  amongst  the  toilers,  chiefly 
where  they  suffered  most ;  a  man  who  uttered  a 
few  sayings  which  did  not  look  like  poetry  when 
they  were  printed  in  a  book.  So  he  was  reviled 
by  the  many  and  blessed  by  the  few ;  and  these 
few  in  their  turn  reviled  his  enemies.  To  complete 


228  ESSAYS  IN  PURITANISM 

the  relation,  this  poet  endured  great  suffering  of 
mind  and  body,  and  died  as  the  result  of  that 
suffering,  when  he  was  a  little  past  the  middle 
of  life.  Unfortunately,  though  he  remained  as 
an  amiable  presence,  he  was  not  buried  for  long 
years  after. 

The  burden  of  the  complaint  against  the  poetry 
of  Whitman  was  not  that  it  was  strange  and 
queer  and  unmetrical,  without  good  sense  or 
agreeable  sound,  but  that  it  was  unclean.  We 
are,  therefore,  compelled  to  examine  the  state  of 
mind  of  the  people  who  laid  this  charge,  as  well 
as  to  consider  the  poetry  upon  which  the  charge 
was  founded. 

It  is  the  fashion  to  speak  lightly  of  the  early 
Puritans  who  settled  in  New  England ;  to  explain 
the  narrowness  of  their  lives  by  their  hard  en- 
vironment; and  to  account  for  their  insensibility 
by  the  lack  of  stimulation.  If  their  lives  were 
narrow,  they  were  lofty ;  if  they  were  insensible 
to  what  appeals  to  us  in  art  and  literature,  they 
had  ideals  of  their  own,  which  so  far  transcended 
the  things  of  this  world  that  art  and  literature 
were  not  worth  bothering  about  in  comparison 
with  them.  To  attain  to  a  knowledge  of  God  was 
the  end  of  their  striving,  and  in  the  struggle 
everything  that  we  are  making  such  a  fuss  about 


WALT  WHITMAN  229 

was  trampled  under  foot.  When  a  man  gets  it 
into  his  head  that  by  searching  he  can  find  out 
God,  he  cares  very  little  for  the  flower  in  the 
crannied  wall,  much  less  for  the  pictures  of  it  or 
for  the  rhymes  which  the  poet  makes.  Of  course, 
it  is  not  pretended  that  the  infertility  of  the  coun- 
try to-day  in  the  various  forms  of  art  is  due  to  a 
preoccupation  with  the  things  of  God.  The  utmost 
that  is  urged  is  that  the  bent  of  the  people  in 
the  early  days  was  toward  theology  and  away 
from  art,  and  that  as  time  went  on  they  finally 
attained  to  an  attitude  of  strict  neutrality  or 
indifference  to  both. 

The  period  preceding  the  events  which  led  up 
to  the  Civil  War  was,  in  many  respects,  the  queer- 
est in  the  annals  of  the  United  States ;  and  the 
people  who  lived  at  that  time  could  not  know 
that  there  was  a  poet  in  their  midst  speaking  for 
a  generation  which  was  not  yet  born.  There  was 
very  little  value  set  upon  artistic  expression  of 
any  kind,  and  but  slight  discrimination  between 
what  was  good  and  what  was  bad  in  any  form 
of  art.  Emerson  was  ranked  above  Montaigne 
as  an  essayist,  and  even  the  pretension  to  an 
acquaintanceship  with  Longfellow  was  enough  to 
make  a  man's  reputation.  The  people  were  yet 
under  the  shadow  of  their  ancestral  tree.    They 


230  ESSAYS  IN  PURITANISM 

did  not  care  whether  any  given  poetry  was  good  or 
bad.  They  had  no  interest  whatever  in  poetry. 
They  knew  that  it  was  wrong  to  hold  their  fellow 
men  in  bondage,  and  they  were  resolute  to  put  an 
end  to  that  form  of  evil  at  least. 

Every  age  and  every  community  has  its  own 
notions  in  a  general  way,  as  to  what  is  right 
and  what  is  wrong.  In  Scotland,  at  one  time, 
unsoundness  of  theological  doctrine  was  an 
evidence  of  inherent  viciousness ;  cattle-lifting, 
a  national,  and,  under  ordinary  circumstances, 
praiseworthy  characteristic.  In  the  early  commu- 
nities of  the  Western  States  no  great  stress  was 
laid  upon  correctness  of  belief,  but  a  good  deal 
was  made  of  the  stealing  of  horses.  To  Cellini, 
murder  was  a  whimsical  pastime ;  to  a  publican, 
the  theft  of  his  pewter  pots  is  the  ultimate  expres- 
sion of  human  depravity. 

The  New  England  community  inherited  such 
a  hatred  of  sin  as  a  theological  entity  that  they 
were  incapable  of  estimating  the  relative  heinous- 
ness  of  vices  so  far  apart  as  piracy  and  sleeping  in 
church.  The  commoner  forms  of  wickedness,  Sab- 
bath-breaking, profanity,  and  uncleanness,  were 
regarded  together  as  equally  deserving  of  God's 
wrath  and  curse.  But  they  had  very  especial  and 
very  erroneous  views  upon  the  moral  significance 


WALT  WHITMAN  231 

of  those  acts  whicli  have  to  do  with  the  propaga- 
tion of  the  species ;  and  to  this  day  the  New 
England  mind  has  not  rid  itself  of  the  conviction 
that  drinking  and  drabbing  are  worse  than  lying 
and  stealing.  This  state  of  mind  at  length  came 
to  colour  their  whole  view  of  life,  to  govern  their 
estimate  of  conduct,  and  influence  their  judgement 
of  art. 

Foreign  observers  of  American  life  are  filled 
with  wonder  at  the  fixedness  of  this  attitude  to- 
ward conduct  and  life.  They  have  seen  a  man, 
dishonest  in  his  relations  with  his  fellow  men, 
with  no  religious  convictions,  or  false  to  those 
which  he  pretended  to  hold,  recreant  to  the  public 
trust  which  had  been  confided  to  him,  cynical 
in  his  friendships  and  violent  in  his  enmities, 
yet  observing  the  conventions  in  respect  to  his 
domestic  affairs  —  and  he  was  advanced  to  still 
higher  place. 

The  invariable  result  of  a  narrow  way  of  life  is 
a  wrong  perception  between  good  and  evil,  and  a 
failure  to  recognize  the  relative  and  negative  value 
of  the  various  forms  of  wickedness  which  prevail 
in  the  world.  Any  given  bodily  action  is  in  itself 
neither  right  nor  wrong.  It  is  right  or  wrong, 
only  when  taken  with  the  whole  contexture  of 
events  of  which  it  forms  a  part.   Every  vice  is 


232  ESSAYS  IN  PURITANISM 

the  counterpart  of  some  virtue.  In  a  narrow 
community  the  virtue  and  the  vice  are  confused, 
and  the  confusion  results  in  prudery,  which 
quickly  passes  into  hypocrisy.  A  moderate  con- 
sumption of  alcohol  is  confounded  with  debauch- 
ery; an  enquiring  mind  is  evidence  of  atheism 
and  proof  of  vicious  living.  Worst  perversion  of 
all :  the  dominant  passion  of  humanity  is  regarded 
as  being  at  one  with  libidinousness. 

Thoreau,  when  he   heard  of  Whitman,  said, 
"  He  is  democracy."   Lincoln,  when  he  saw  the 
poet,  cried  out,  "  He  is  a  man."   But  the  mass  of 
the  people  were  only  dully  conscious  that  he  had 
offended  against  the  dearest  traditions  of  New 
England  life.    Whitman  lived  in  New  York,  it  is 
true ;  but  the  standards  by  which  he  was  judged 
were  New  England  standards.    The  rule  of  life 
which  he  transgressed  was  the  Boston  rule.  From 
the  point  of  view  which  prevailed  in  New  York,  it 
did  not  matter  that  a  man,  even  were  he  a  poet, 
should  have  a  ruddy  face  and  wear  big  whiskers, 
that  he  should  cross  the  ferry  in  the  pilot-house 
of  the  steamer,  that  he  should  ride  on  the  top  of 
an  omnibus  and  talk  with  low  people,  even  tread 
with  bare  feet  the  shore  of  Long  Island,  or  swim 
naked  in  its  waters. 

The  poets  of  Boston  did  none  of  these  things. 


WALT  WHITMAN  233 

They  kept  out  of  the  rain  and  the  sun.  They  found 
enjoyment  in  things  which  Whitman  disdained. 
In  a  letter  from  James  Russell  Lowell  to  Miss 
Emelyn  Eldredge  we  have  some  indication  of 
what  the  great  ones  of  Boston  found  entertaining : 
"  I,  yesterday,  returned  from  Salem,  where  we 
had  spent  Fast  Week.  We  had  a  very  good  time 
indeed,  doing,  of  course,  just  what  we  pleased. 
We  waltzed,  or  acted  charades,  or  enjoyed  tete-a- 
tetes  on  the  stairs  or  in  the  library,  or  joked,  or 
did  something,  all  the  time.  An  ingenious  friend, 
who  was  patient  enough  to  count  the  number  of 
puns  made  in  the  space  of  twenty  minutes,  found 
them  to  be  seventy-five,  or  a  little  more  than  three 
in  a  minute.  The  recoil  from  such  a  state  of  mind 
is  either  into  stupidity  or  a  greater  degree  of  non- 
sense." Judging  from  some  publications  which 
appeared  about  this  time,  it  would  seem  that  this 
final  observation  of  Lowell  was  probably  just  — 
that  such  diversions  are  apt  to  lead  to  stupidity 
and  nonsense  on  the  part  of  those  who  indulge  in 
them. 

Nor  are  we  left  without  knowledge  of  the  kind 
of  jokes  which  passed  current  in  the  community, 
scattered,  as  they  are,  through  the  pages  of  letters 
which  have  been  so  ruthlessly  made  public  within 
the  past  five  years.    When  William  Wetmore 


234  ESSAYS  IN  PURITANISM 

Story  was  in  Italy,  Lowell  wrote  to  him  to  en- 
quire :  "  What  do  you  do  for  cigars  ?  I  know  that 
the  Virginian  nepenthe  is  so  much  esteemed  there, 
that  one  of  the  popular  oaths  is  Per  Bacco !  I 
know  that  Vesuvius  smokes,  but  do  the  people 
generally?"  Lowell  did  not  care  whether  the 
Italians  used  tobacco  or  not ;  he  was  only  anxious 
to  find  an  opening  for  his  little  joke.  The  incident 
is  typical.  The  men  of  his  time  and  class  cared 
only  for  certain  aspects  of  life ;  for  them  "  litera- 
ture" was  the  thing. 

Mr.  Story,  in  a  letter  to  Lowell,  dated  from 
Boston  in  1855,  bemoans  that  his  fellow  country- 
men "  have  little  blood  and  few  sensual  tempta- 
tions." We  may  dissent  at  once  from  this  impli- 
cation, that  the  main  office  of  the  blood  is  to 
minister  to  sensuality ;  yet  it  is  significant  that 
such  was  the  connection  in  the  New  England 
mind.  To  Whitman  this  spirit  in  the  blood  was 
a  noble  creation  for  a  divinely  appointed  and 
glorious  purpose.  He  magnified  it  and  made  it 
honourable  ;  the  wise  men  of  New  England  strove 
to  put  it  underfoot ;  or  rather,  the  thing  died  of 
inanition,  and  they  took  credit  to  themselves  for 
having  destroyed  it. 

We  may  accept  the  statement  of  Story  as 
being  correct,  and  we  can  find  a  natural  explana- 


WALT  WHITMAN  235 

tion  of  the  phenomenon  in  the  facts  of  physiology. 
If  we  were  more  willing  to  follow  the  practice  of 
that  Judaean  king  of  perfect  heart,  and  seek  unto 
the  physicians  for  information  upon  these  deep 
matters,  instead  of  laying  them  to  the  charge  of 
the  Devil  without  further  investigation,  we  should 
have  safer  grounds  for  procedure.  A  good  physi- 
cian and  great  physiologist  has  written  in  his 
book :  "  Idleness  is  the  mother  of  lechery.  There 
are  other  altars  than  those  of  Venus  upon  which 
a  young  man  may  light  fires.  He  may  practise 
at  least  two  of  the  five  means  by  which,  as  the 
physician  Rondibilis  counselled  Panurge,  carnal 
concupiscence  may  be  cooled  and  quelled  —  hard 
work  of  body  and  mind." 

From  the  time  of  the  earliest  settlement,  the 
inhabitants  of  New  England  had  hard  work  of 
body  in  their  endeavour  to  subsist ;  they  had  hard 
work  of  mind  in  their  endeavour — a  vain  one 
as  it  afterwards  proved  —  to  discover  the  whole 
purpose  of  God.  In  addition  to  this,  there  was 
no  organized  class  of  idle  rich  or  idle  poor,  and 
so  the  people  were  unfamiliar  with  the  vice  of 
uncleanness.  To  them  it  was  a  hideous  monster. 
Hatred  of  the  vice  caused  a  hatred  of  hearing 
about  the  normal  circumstances  of  which  this 
vice  is  the  counterpart 


236  ESSAYS  IN  PURITANISM 

The  cliief  end  of  man,  notwithstanding  a  great 
authority  to  the  contrary,  is  to  propagate  his 
species.  The  present  writer  has  been  told,  by  one 
of  the  many  philosophers  who  love  to  meditate  in 
secret,  that  life  is  the  condition  of  matter  which 
enables  an  organism  to  perpetuate  itself;  and 
that  the  eternal  purpose  of  the  Universe  is  to 
endow  matter  with  the  capacity  for  sentient  en- 
joyment. The  whole  fabric  of  creation  is  indis- 
solubly  bound  up  with  this  natural  propensity, 
and  with  it  the  passion  for  maternity.  As  one 
decays,  the  other  dies.  Numerical  diminution 
of  the  race  and  individual  decadence  go  together. 
That  is  the  curse  of  Eve.  But  we  are  not  speak- 
ing of  present  times.  The  history  of  all  society  is 
determined  by  the  attitude  which  it  adopts  to- 
ward this  fundamental  conception  :  and  to  come 
to  the  matter  in  hand,  it  is  only  in  communities 
where  a  correct  view  prevails  that  fulness  of  life 
is  found,  and  artistic  expression,  the  flower  of  life, 
is  possible. 

The  Puritans  held  other  views  as  to  the  mission 
of  the  race,  either  adopting  Saint  Paul's  convic- 
tion that  the  end  of  the  human  species,  as  such, 
was  at  hand ;  or  Calvin's  belief,  that  if  any  indivi- 
dual of  the  species  were  to  escape  eternal  punish- 
ment, it  would  be  but  by  the  skin  of  his  teeth ;  or 


WALT  WHITMAN  237 

the  judgement  of  Jonathan  Edwards  that  the  bulk 
of  mankind  was  reserved  for  burning.  Obviously, 
a  species  with  so  gloomy  an  outlook  before  it  was 
not  worth  reproducing,  and  men  had  a  ready 
means  of  bringing  to  naught  the  sinister  purposes 
which  they  attributed  to  Providence.  Yet  Ed- 
wards himself  had  ten  sisters  and  eleven  children, 
which  is  a  singular  illustration  of  the  slight  degree 
in  which  the  dominant  passion  of  humanity  is  in- 
fluenced by  extraneous  beliefs.  Whitman's  career, 
then,  was  in  the  nature  of  a  revolt,  and  we  should 
fail  to  understand  it,  had  we  not,  at  some  length, 
gone  into  the  matter  against  which  he  rebelled. 

However  much  the  literary  coterie  of  New  Eng- 
land might  pretend  to  be  satisfied  with  their  en- 
vironment, in  reality  they  were  not  so.  They  dis- 
closed continually  their  discontent  in  the  letters 
which  they  were  incessantly  writing  to  each  other. 
To  return  again  to  the  correspondence  of  William 
Wetmore  Story.  In  a  letter  to  Lowell  about 
Allston,  it  is  asserted  that  he  "  starved  spiritually 
—  there  was  nothing  congenial  about  him  —  he 
was  stunted  by  the  cold  winds  of  that  fearful 
Cambridgeport  —  the  heart  grows  into  stone  — 
there  is  no  hearty  love  of  anything."  This  was 
in  Boston.  In  more  fashionable  places  it  was  no 
better.   When   Mr.  Story  was   in  Newport,    he 


238  ESSAYS  IN  PURITANISM 

gave  some  account  of  the  condition  of  affairs, 
which  he  observed  at  a  meeting  of  the  aristocracy 
in  that  resort  of  society :  "  I  did  not  see  a  hand- 
some  face  —  all   wan   and   worn   and   haggard. 

There  was  a  famous  Miss ,  Jewish  in  style, 

hollow -cheeked,  with  two  drum- sticks  for  arms, 
broken,  and  sharpened  off  at  the  elbows.  To  her 
immense  attention  is  paid,  because  she  is  rich. 
All  the  talk  here  is  about  dollars,  how  much 
money  this  and  that  one  has  got,  and  a  dreary 
and  monotonous  thing  it  is  to  hear  it  so  con- 
stantly." All  this  concerns  merely  the  dryness 
and  dreariness  of  New  England  life.  I  have  re- 
frained of  set  purpose  from  making  any  mention 
of  the  wickedness  of  it,  though  the  letter-writers 
of  the  time  manifest  no  such  reticence.  In  a  let- 
ter to  Lowell  from  Story,  the  sculptor  adds  to  the 
bloodlessness  and  the  absence  of  sensual  tempta- 
tions the  fatal  words,  "but  they  do  not  resist 
what  temptations  they  have."  This  appears  to 
me  to  be  merely  ill-natured,  though  Mr.  Story 
does  illustrate  his  saying  by  some  shocking  gossip 
about  the  very  delicate  matter  of  cuckoldry  —  to 
employ  an  old  phrase.  This,  then,  was  society, 
and  Whitman  had  no  social  ambitions.  He  had 
no  desire  to  enter  it.  He  was  a  force.  He  moved 
in  his  own  lines.    He  was  untrammelled.   Indeed, 


WALT  WHITMAN  239 

there  is  a  rumour  to  the  same  effect  current  in 
the  frontier  stations  of  India  in  connection  with 
Mr.  Kipling.  That  is  the  one  thing  which  society 
will  not  tolerate  —  a  lack  of  social  ambition,  an 
outsidedness  of  all  cliques. 

Walt  Whitman  was  born  free  from  the  con- 
ventions, good  or  bad,  which  hedged  in  his  fellow 
countrymen.  He  had  the  virtues  inherent  in  the 
New  England  stock  and  was  free  from  many  of  its 
vices.  His  first  American  progenitor  came  from 
England  to  Connecticut  in  1635,  in  the  True  Love, 
a  ship  only  a  little  less  famous  than  the  Abigail 
or  the  Mayflower.  The  family  remained  in  New 
England  for  two  generations,  then  migrated  to 
Long  Island,  in  the  State  of  New  York,  and  was 
established  there  for  four  generations  before  the 
poet  was  born.  He  came  from  a  mingled  blood. 
His  mother's  people  were  Van  Yelsors,  and  he 
obtained  a  Celtic  strain  from  his  maternal  grand- 
mother, who  was  a  Williams.  The  occupation 
of  the  family  is  also  worthy  of  note.  The  Whit- 
mans, and  the  Van  Velsors,  too,  farmed  their 
own  lands,  raised  horses  and  cattle  ;  and  some  of 
the  younger  members  of  the  family,  with  Amer- 
ican versatility,  turned  to  seafaring,  carpentry,  or 
other  means  of  livelihood.  Born  anew  in  New 
England,  nourished  in  New  York,  enriched  by 


240  ESSAYS  IN  PURITANISM 

fresh  strains  of  blood,  ennobled  by  independence, 
self-reliant  through  success  in  varied  occupations, 
such  a  family  was  well  qualified  for  the  produc- 
tion of  a  free  man. 

Walt  Whitman,  then,  was  *'  well  begotten,  and 
raised  by  a  perfect  mother,"  and  soon  proved  him- 
self worthy  of  his  high  birth  and  training.  He 
was  the  second  of  nine  children,  and  was  usually 
called  Walt  to  distinguish  him  from  his  father, 
whose  name  also  was  Walter.  The  qualities  in 
the  Whitman  family,  which  have  been  already 
enumerated,  manifested  themselves  early  in  this 
boy,  and  at  the  age  of  thirteen  he  was  competent 
to  take  his  place  in  the  great  world.  He  began  by 
learning  to  set  type,  an  occupation  which  has  been 
peculiarly  fertile  of  great  men.  A  thirteen-year- 
old  typesetter  in  a  modern  printing-office  is  usually 
a  product  of  domestic  necessity.  In  those  days  an 
American-born  boy  took  to  work  as  naturally  as 
English  children  of  the  same  age  obtained  a  com- 
mand of  men  in  the  army  or  navy.  The  printer's 
case  soon  lost  its  interest,  and  he  forsook  it  in 
order  to  teach  a  school.  It  was  not  long  before 
he  was  back  in  the  world  again,  writing  for  news- 
papers and  setting  the  type,  and  at  nineteen  he  be- 
gan editing  a  paper  for  himself.  Then  he  removed 
to  New  York,  where  he  remained  for  ten  years, 


WALT  WHITMAN  241 

setting  type,  printing,  editing,  writing,  spending 
summers  in  the  country  at  farm  work,  speaking 
at  debating  societies  and  political  assemblies  ;  in 
short,  earning  his  living,  and  living  in  any  way 
that  amused  and  interested  him. 

Whitman  now  knew  the  world  in  so  far  as  it 
was  contained  in  New  York ;  but  he  wished  to 
know  more.  Being  then  about  thirty  years  of  age, 
he  began  a  slow  journey  with  his  brother  through 
the  Middle  and  Southern  States,  and  reached  New 
Orleans.  He  returned  by  the  Western  States  as 
far  north  as  Canada,  and,  making  a  wide  circuit, 
returned  to  New  York  after  an  absence  of  two 
years.  He  had  seen  the  great  American  people  at 
work  and  was  meditating  upon  what  it  meant ;  and 
whilst  so  doing,  he  continued  writing  and  editing, 
building,  buying,  and  selling  houses  ;  but  "  being 
in  danger  of  getting  rich,"  he  abandoned  these 
lucrative  if  absorbing  employments. 

The  poet's  education  was  now  complete,  and  it 
bore  fruit  in  this  little  book  of  twelve  pieces.  It 
was  printed  at  the  house  of  Andrew  and  James 
Rowe,  corner  of  Fulton  and  Cranberry  streets, 
Brooklyn.  Whitman  himself  assisted  in  setting 
the  types,  so  that  the  strange  arrangement  of  the 
lines  is  not  the  fault  of  the  proof-reader  or  printer, 
as  many  alleged  at  the  time  of  publication. 


242  ESSAYS  IN  PURITANISM 

Wliitman  had  seen  life  at  first  hand,  he  was 
now  to  look  death  in  the  face.   In  1862  the  news 
came  that  his  brother  had  been  wounded  at  the 
battle   of   Fredericksburg,    and   he    started   for 
the  camp  on  the  Kapahannock.    After  caring  for 
his  brother,  he  joined  the  hospital  corps,   and 
assisted  in  conveying  the  wounded  to  Washing- 
ton.    There  he  remained  for  three  years,  min- 
istering to   the    sick  soldiers   in  the   hospitals, 
supporting  himself  in  any  way  he  could,  chiefly 
by  writing  letters  to  the  newspapers.    Then  he  fell 
ill,  and  after  a  short  visit  to  his  home  returned  to 
the  hospitals.   About  the  close  of  the  war  he  was 
appointed  to  a  clerk's  place  in  the  Department 
of  the  Interior,  and  was  afterwards  transferred 
to  the  office  of  the  Attorney-General,  where  he 
became  so  efficient  as  to  earn  a  salary  of  sixteen 
hundred  dollars  a  year.    In  1873  he  was  stricken 
with   paralysis;   he   removed  to   Camden,  New 
Jersey,  where  he  lived  on  the  edge  of  poverty 
till  1892,  and  then  died. 

Walt  Whitman,  we  have  seen,  was  born  free. 
He  lived  a  life  of  freedom.  He  saw  that  his 
countrymen  possessed  some  of  the  elements  of 
freedom,  and  he  wished  to  set  them  wholly  free. 
He  addressed  them  as  a  prophet,  that  is,  as  one 
who  speaks  for  another.    He  examined  himself  as 


WALT  WHITMAN  243 

the  son  of  humanity,  and  disclosed  the  record  of 
his  observations.  As  a  result  the  people  said  that 
he  was  possessed  of  a  devil,  that  he  was  insane  ; 
and  when  Emerson  hailed  the  "  Leaves  of  Grass  " 
in  the  words,  "  I  give  you  joy  of  your  free  and 
brave  thought.  I  have  great  joy  in  it.  I  wish  to 
see  my  benefactor  "  —  the  "  Boston  Post "  could 
only  account  for  the  commendation  of  such  a 
"prurient  and  polluted  work,"  on  the  ground 
that  Emerson  also  was  suffering  from  temporary 
insanity,  and  was  impure-minded  as  well.  "  Woe 
and  shame,"  this  newspaper  cried,  "  for  the  land 
of  liberty,  if  its  literature's  stream  is  to  flow  from 
the  filthy  fountain  of  licentious  corruption.  No 
merits  can  atone  for  the  exulting  audacity  of  the 
obscenity  which  marks  a  large  portion  of  the 
volume ;  its  vaunted  manliness  is  the  deification 
of  self  and  defiance  of  the  Deity ;  its  liberty  is 
the  wildest  license ;  its  love  the  essence  of  the 
lowest  lust."  It  cannot  be  alleged  that  this  was 
a  mere  hasty  utterance,  for  it  was  written  in 
1860,  five  years  after  the  book  appeared. 

Another  Boston  newspaper  writer  was  less 
temperate;  he  thought  the  title  of  the  book 
ridiculous,  and  the  work  itself  a  heterogeneous 
mass  of  bombast,  egotism,  vulgarity,  and  nonsense. 
As  if  this  were  not  enough,  he  continued :  "  The 


244  ESSAYS   IN   PURITANISM 

beastliness  of  the  author  is  set  forth  in  his  own 
description  of  himself,  and  we  can  conceive  no 
better  reward  than  the  lash  for  such  a  violation ; 
the  book  should  find  no  place  where  humanity- 
urges  any  claim  to  self-respect,  and  the  author 
should  be  kicked  from  all  decent  society  as  below 
the  level  of  the  brute  ;  there  is  neither  wit  nor 
method  in  his  disjointed  babbling,  and  it  seems 
to  us  he  must  be  some  escaped  lunatic  raving  in 
pitiable  delirium."  This  was  printed  within  the 
year  of  the  publication  of  the  "  Leaves  of  Grass.'* 

The  vilification  of  Whitman  was  not  confined 
to  any  one  locality,  but  was  general  throughout 
the  United  States.  In  Cincinnati,  a  writer  for 
the  "  Commercial "  assumed  that  his  readers  were 
ignorant  of  the  achievements  of  Whitman,  which 
was  probably  not  an  unjustifiable  assumption, 
although  the  book  had  appeared  five  years  pre- 
viously. He  then  proceeds  to  enlighten  them  by 
declaring  that  the  author  was  "  a  person  of  coarse 
nature,  blurting  out  impertinence  under  a  full 
assurance  of  originality." 

In  New  York  the  appearance  of  the  book  was 
greeted  with  a  general  horror,  which  was  well 
expressed  in  the  "  Criterion :  "  "  Thus,  then,  we 
leave  this  gathering  of  muck  to  the  laws,  which 
certainly,  if  they  fulfil  their  intent,  must  have 


WALT  WHITMAN  245 

power  to  suppress  such  obscenity.  In  our  allu- 
sions to  this  book  we  have  found  it  impossible  to 
convey  any,  even  the  most  faint,  idea  of  its  style 
and  contents,  and  of  our  disgust  and  detestation 
of  them.  The  records  of  crime  show  that  many 
monsters  have  gone  on  with  impunity,  because 
the  exposure  of  their  vileness  was  attended  with 
too  great  delicacy."  The  exposure  of  crime  in  the 
United  States  to-day  is  not  handicapped  by  any 
such  disability. 

By  the  year  1857,  "  Leaves  of  Grass "  had 
grown  to  a  volume  of  384  pages,  containing 
thirty-two  poems,  and  was  published  in  New 
York.  The  third  issue  was  in  1860,  by  Thayer 
and  Eldredge,  of  Boston,  a  handsome  volume,  in 
which  were  included  one  hundred  and  fifty-four 
poems.  It  might  be  thought  that  after  five  years 
of  deliberation,  and  with  so  large  a  mass  of  mate- 
rial, the  writers  for  the  best  magazines  in  the 
country  should  not  have  gone  so  far  astray. 

In  1876  a  magazine  in  New  York,  bearing  a 
great  name,  went  into  the  matter  very  fully,  and 
declared  its  settled  belief  that  Whitman  was  "a 
mere  trickster."  After  falsifying  all  the  history 
of  his  life,  and  assigning  to  his  most  ordinary 
actions  the  motives  of  a  charlatan,  that  magazine 
set  down  as  its  deliberate  conclusion  that "  Leaves 


246  ESSAYS  IN  PURITANISM 

of  Grass  "  was  "  a  performance  of  unparalleled 
audacity,  an  outrage  upon  decency,  and  not  fit  to 
be  seen  in  any  respectable  house.  Impudent  and 
ridiculous  as  the  book  was,  it  would  not  have 
been  easy  to  get  it  before  the  public,  but  accident 
and  the  author's  cunning  favoured  him." 

The  late  Bayard  Taylor,  writing  editorially  in 
the  "  Tribune,"  repeated  the  same  conclusions, 
and  in  1881  that  journal  returned  to  the  charge, 
classing  the  "dilettante  indelicacies  of  Mallock 
and  Oscar  Wilde  with  the  slop-bucket  of  Walt 
Whitman.  The  verses  have  been  printed  irreg- 
ularly, and  read  behind  the  door.  Some  have 
valued  them  for  their  barbaric  yawp,  some  for 
their  nastiness  and  animal  insensibility  to  shame ; 
it  is  the  author's  mission  to  proclaim  that  garbage 
is  as  good  as  nectar,  if  you  are  only  lusty  enough 
to  think  so ;  neither  anatomy,  sentiment,  nor 
susceptibility  to  physical  beauty  has  anything  to 
do  with  it  —  it  is  entirely  bestial,  and  the  gross 
materialism  of  the  verses  represents  art  in  its 
last  degradation." 

This  was  about  the  time  of  the  appearance  of 
the  fourth  edition  of  "  Leaves  of  Grass,"  by  James 
R.  Osgood  and  Company,  and,  as  a  result  of  the 
outcry,  the  district  attorney  served  a  notice  upon 
the  publishers  that  unless  the  issue  were  stopped, 


WALT  WHITMAN  247 

the  firm  would  be  prosecuted  in  pursuance  of  the 
public  statutes  respecting  obscene  literature.  This 
happened  only  twenty  years  ago. 

As  late  as  1882  the  leading  magazine  in  the 
United  States,  in  its  review  of  literature,  could 
spare  only  three  lines  to  say  of  the  final  edition 
of  "  Leaves  of  Grass  "  as  we  have  it  to-day :  "  It 
is  a  congeries  of  bizarre  rhapsodies,  that  are 
neither  sane  verse  nor  intelligible  prose."  The 
same  magazine,  ten  years  later,  a  date  which  many 
now  living  can  remember,  declined  to  publish  an 
original  poem  by  Whitman,  on  the  ground  that 
it  was  a  mere  improvisation.  During  the  year  just 
ended  a  writer  in  an  important  American  review 
blamed  Whitman,  because  "  by  his  peculiarities 
he  had  blinded  men's  eyes  to  the  real  masters  of 
American  verse." 

In  certain  quarters  in  England  which  were 
dominated  by  the  same  ideas  of  morality,  it  was 
no  better.  The  "  Critic,"  then,  as  now,  an  arbiter 
of  public  taste,  declared  that  Whitman  was  a 
poet  "  whose  indecencies  stink  in  the  nostrils," 
that  he  was  "  as  unacquainted  with  art  as  a  hog 
with  mathematics.  His  poems,"  that  authority 
protested,  "  are  innocent  of  rhyme,  and  resemble 
nothing  so  much  as  the  war-cry  of  the  Red  In- 
dians ;  this  Walt  Whitman  reminds  us  of  Cali- 


248  ESSAYS   IN  PURITANISM 

ban  flinging  down  his  logs  and  setting  himself  to 
write  a  poem  ;  the  man  who  wrote  page  79  of  the 
'  Leaves  of  Grass  '  deserves  nothing  so  richly  as 
the  public  executioner's  whip ;  we  call  it  the 
expression  of  a  beast." 

In  one  small  circle  in  England,  however,  Whit- 
man won  instant  recognition,  and  he  was  admitted 
into  that  brotherhood  which  had  for  its  motive 
truth,  sincerity,  and  earnestness,  which  appealed 
to  things  themselves  to  find  out  if  that  was  true 
which  was  being  continually  repeated  about  them. 
Rossetti,  indeed,  published  selections  from  Whit- 
man's poetry,  and  lent  to  it  the  sanction  of  his 
name  and  pledged  the  reputation  of  his  friends. 

It  may  be  urged  now  that  these  expressions  did 
not  represent  the  sentiments  of  the  people  at 
large.  We  must  not  assume  that  everything  which 
is  printed  in  a  newspaper  is  necessarily  false. 
Besides,  we  have  other  evidence.  Official  notice 
was  taken  of  Whitman's  conduct.  In  1865  he  was 
employed  as  a  clerk  in  the  Department  of  the 
Interior,  under  the  Secretary,  James  Harlan,  and 
was  dismissed  from  his  post.  The  reason  put 
forward  for  his  dismissal  by  Secretary  Harlan 
was  that  he  had  ten  years  before  written  a  book 
which  was  full  of  indecent  passages,  and  that  the 
author  was  a  very  bad  man  and  a  free-lover.  This 


WALT  WHITMAN  249 

action  of  the  Secretary  for  the  Department  of  the 
Interior  met  with  general  approbation,  as  may  be 
gathered  from  the  newspaper  comment  upon  it  at 
the  time.  Though  James  Harlan  was  Secretary 
of  the  Interior,  and  had  been  a  Methodist  clergy- 
man and  president  of  a  small  college,  he  was  not 
a  great  man.  A  great  man,  a  poet,  who  lived  in 
Cambridge,  was  visited  by  a  stranger,  who  was 
on  his  way  to  visit  Whitman  also ;  but  his  host 
turned  him  aside,  affirming  that  the  author  of  the 
"  Leaves  of  Grass  "  was  no  fit  company  for  so 
distinguished  a  personage,  that  he  was  "  a  com- 
mon street  blackguard,  and  nothing  but  a  low 
New  York  rowdy." 

The  defamers  of  Whitman  were  not  all  found 
in  newspaper  offices.  Even  Emerson  appears  to 
have  repented  of  his  first  generous  outburst.  He 
had  intended  sending  a  copy  of  the  book  to  Car- 
lyle,  and  described  it  as  a  nondescript  monster, 
which  yet  had  terrible  eyes  and  buffalo  strength ; 
but  hesitated,  as  "  it  wanted  good  morals  so 
much."  However,  he  thought  better  of  it  and 
sent  it  to  Carlyle,  with  this  intimation,  "  After 
looking  into  it,  if  you  think,  as  you  may,  that  it 
is  only  an  auctioneer's  inventory  of  a  warehouse, 
you  can  light  your  pipe  with  it."  Emerson  had 
a  curious  faculty  for  taking  on  the  colour  of  his 


250  ESSAYS  IN  PURITANISM 

environment,  and  for  assuming  the  tone  of  the 
persons  to  whom  he  wrote. 

There  is  a  vice  of  praising  as  well  as  a  vice 
of  detracting,  and  Whitman  suffered  from  both. 
His  friends,  though  few,  were  not  silent.   Indeed, 
they   were  scarcely   more   temperate   in  speech 
than  his  traducers.    One  of  his  chief  advocates, 
a  warm-hearted,  hot-blooded  Irishman,  described 
an  opponent  of  Whitman  as  a  lewd  fellow  and  a 
dirty  dog;  another  opponent,  he  asserted,  had 
a  narrow  mind  and  a  rotten  heart ;  and  the  pub- 
lishers were  peddlers.   This  writer  next  turned 
upon   the   critics,    and    called   them  poetasters, 
plagiarists,    hypocrites,    prudes,    eunuchs,    fops, 
poisoners,    blackguards,     snakes,     hogs,    gnats, 
midges,  vermin,  monkeys,  a  paltry  and  venomous 
swarm  condensed  into  a  demon  in  the  garb  of  an 
inquisitor,  and  by  many  other  ingenious  terms, 
which  he  claimed  were  descriptive. 

Intemperateness  of  speech  is  yet  the  character- 
istic of  American  literature.  This  wildness  of 
statement,  this  unqualified  praise  and  undiscrim- 
inating  blame,  this  defiance  of  standards,  are 
best  observed  in  that  form  of  art  which  is  known 
as  magazine  writing.  In  a  number  of  the  "  Cen- 
tury," so  late  as  November,  1904,  judgement  is 
passed  upon  Gilbert  Stuart's  portraits  of  men, 


WALT  WHITMAN  261 

and  the  picture  of  Judge  Stephen  Jones  is  de- 
scribed as  a  "  living  portrait,  which  for  brilliant 
colouring,  bold  handling,  firm  modelling,  natural 
pose,  and  strong  individuality,  must  for  ever  stand 
unsurpassed ; "  and  the  dictum  of  "  Jouett,  the 
Kentucky  painter,"  is  quoted  :  "  Upon  the  whole, 
the  most  remarkable  face  and  painting  that  I 
have  ever  seen."  It  may  be  so,  but  the  evidence 
is  not  sufficient  to  convince  those  whose  taste  in 
portraiture  is  influenced  by  other  standards  than 
those  which  prevail  in  Kentucky,  or  even  in  the 
United  States  as  a  whole.  The  feeling  yet  re- 
mains that  such  admirable  painters  as  Velasquez, 
and  Rembrandt,  and  Raeburn  are  entitled  to 
some  consideration.  Similarly,  the  conviction 
persists  that  neither  the  friends  nor  the  enemies 
of  Whitman  spoke  the  truth. 

Indeed,  Walt  Whitman's  reputation  was  not 
much  better  served  by  his  friends  than  by  his 
enemies.  We  have  already  seen  that  they  were 
intemperate  in  their  speech,  cursing  where  cursing 
was  unnecessary.  They  were  also  injudicious  in 
their  praise  and  were  continually  putting  foolish 
notions  into  the  poet's  head.  This  was  during  the 
twenty  years  of  his  illness,  and  few  reputations 
can  stand  up  against  twenty  years  of  invalidism. 
In  the  end  his  friends  gathered  together  and 


252  ESSAYS  IN  PURITANISM 

published  a  most  foolisli  book,  whicb  contained  all 
that  had  ever  been  said  for  or  against  the  poet, 
and  all  that  any  one  could  remember  of  the  most 
unimportant  details  of  his  daily  life.  Even  the 
chart  of  a  travelling  phrenologist,  whatever  kind 
of  quack  that  may  be,  was  pressed  into  service  by 
the  poet's  friends,  to  prove  that  he  was  not  devoid 
of  admirable  qualities. 

Whilst  Whitman  had  a  vigorous  life,  we  are 
glad  to  hear  of  his  noble  physique,  his  cleanly  and 
comfortable,  if  unconventional  dress,  his  daily 
ablutions,  the  sweetness  of  his  breath,  the  splen- 
did flow  and  colour  of  beard  and  hair,  and  the 
tint  of  his  bodily  integument.    But  we  could  well 
spare  the  records  of  his  long  illness,  of  the  med- 
icines which  he  took,  and  the  pharmacological 
effects  of  his  potions.    The  personal  matters  of 
an  old  man  are  rarely  lovely;  the  chamber  life 
of  an  invalid  is  of  interest  only  to  a  hospital 
nurse  when  she  converses  with  a  house  surgeon. 
This  spirit  of  curiosity  did  not  cease  to  exist 
even  when  Whitman  was  dead,  and  we  are  fur- 
nished  with   the   loathsome   particulars   of   the 
autopsy.   Even  to  professed  pathologists,  it  can 
be  of  no  interest  to  read  that  the  dead  poet's 
sigmoid  flexure  was  unusually  long,  or  that  the 
pericardial  sac  contained  an  abnormally  small 


WALT  WHITMAN  263 

amount  of  fluid.  Greatness  was  never  claimed 
for  Whitman  on  the  ground  of  the  condition  of 
his  entrails.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  cause  of 
death  was  tuberculosis,  but  the  autopsy  does  not 
appear  to  have  disclosed  the  nature  of  the  lesion 
which  caused  paralysis  in  a  man  of  fifty-three. 

There  are  many  persons  still  living  who  knew 
Whitman  well,  and  it  would  be  easy  to  fill  a  vol- 
ume with  their  reminiscences  of  the  poet,  but  it 
would  be  a  dull  book.  Those  with  whom  I  have 
spoken  testify  with  one  voice  to  his  candour,  sim- 
plicity, and  winsomeness,  and  refer  to  a  quality 
which  they  call  magnetic.  They  do  not  know  what 
magnetic  means,  nor  we  either,  save  that  it  has 
nothing  to  do  with  magnetism.  At  any  rate,  he 
had  an  attractiveness,  which  made  even  the  most 
casual  acquaintance  love  him. 

No  task  to  which  a  critic  can  set  his  hand  is  so 
difficult  as  the  right  appreciation  of  a  book  in 
which  he  thinks  that  he  discerns  qualities  of  nega- 
tive moral  value.  The  people,  high  and  low,  offi- 
cial and  plain,  missed  the  mark  in  their  aim  at 
the  morality  of  Whitman.  They  were  insensible 
also  to  the  poetical  value  of  his  work.  The  book 
of  poetry  and  the  book  of  nature  lay  open  before 
them,  and  yet  their  eyes  were  blind  to  the  lyric 
beauty  of  "  Leaves  of  Grass."    The  temper  of  the 


264  ESSAYS   IN  PURITANISM 

time  will  explain  the  opposition  to  Whitman's 
doctrines ;  it  does  not  fully  elucidate  this  strange 
phenomenon  of  literary  blindness.  A  new  moral- 
ity combined  with  a  new  poetry  was  too  much. 

Poetry  is  a  strange,  elusive  thing,  made  up  of 
great  thoughts,  fitly,  and,  therefore,  beautifully 
spoken,  with  rhythm,  cadence,  and  sometimes 
rhyme.  To  be  easily  recognized  it  must  have 
form,  and  to  the  casual  reader  form  is  the  great- 
est of  these  qualities,  greatest  because  most  useful. 
It  is  by  its  form  they  recognize  the  thing.  We 
are,  therefore,  compelled  to  examine  the  form  of 
Whitman's  poetry;  and  we  shall  find  that  its 
peculiarity,  not  to  say  its  defect,  of  form,  was 
another  cause  which  prevented  its  acceptance. 

The  makers  of  English  poetry  have  only  a  few 
established  forms  into  which  their  verse  can  be 
forced  ;  and  verse  which  cannot  be  so  fitted  must 
go  with  such  form  as  they  choose  to  provide. 
French  poets,  on  the  other  hand,  have  a  form  for 
everything ;  or  rather,  they  have  no  verse  which 
will  not  fit  the  mould.  It  is  as  easy  to  write 
French  verse  in  general  as  it  is  to  write  an  Eng- 
lish sonnet ;  it  is  as  easy  to  recognize  a  French 
poet  as  an  English  sonnetteer.  When  we  consider 
form  in  English  poetry,  the  sonnet  naturally 
arises  before  the  mind,  because  its  rules  are  the 


WALT  WHITMAN  255 

most  firmly  established.  In  modern  literature  the 
sonnet  is  a  poetical  arrangement  of  fourteen 
rhymed  verses  set  in  a  prescribed  order,  but  there 
is  to  this  day  no  agreement  as  to  what  that  pre- 
scription shall  be.  The  practice  of  Petrarch  was 
to  arrange  the  verses  in  an  octave  of  two  rhymes, 
and  a  sextet  of  two  or  three  rhymes.  Pierre  delle 
Vigne  arranged  his  verses  in  two  quatrains  and 
two  tercets,  the  alternate  lines  of  the  quatrain 
rhyming ;  and  of  the  tercets,  the  first  and  fourth, 
the  second  and  fifth,  the  third  and  sixth  must 
rhyme.  To  mention  one  form  more,  for  the  sake 
of  completing  the  illustration,  though  there  are 
many  others,  Shakespeare  set  his  verses  in  three 
quatrains  of  alternate  rhymes,  and  finished  with 
a  couplet,  though  he  made  one  sonnet  entirely 
of  couplets  —  and  only  six  of  them ;  he  put  fifteen 
lines  into  one  of  the  compositions  and  left  yet 
another  with  a  broken  verse. 

To  illustrate  the  confusion  of  mind  that  exists 
upon  the  subject  of  form  in  English  versification, 
it  may  be  recalled  that  there  was  a  time  when 
many  persons  contended  that  Shakespeare  did  not 
write  sonnets  at  all,  but  only  continuous  poems 
of  fourteen  lines  each.  If  we  enquire  of  the  poets 
what  a  sonnet  is,  they  will  tell  us  that  they  do  not 
know  and  do  not  care.    They  write  the  thing  in 


256  ESSAYS   IN  PURITANISM 

their  own  way.  If  we  enquire  of  the  wise  men, 
they  will  reply  that  it  is  a  deep-brained  thing. 
They  will  compare  it  to  the  rise  and  fall  of  a 
wave,  to  a  sky-rocket,  to  the  apocalyptic  beast 
with  a  sting  in  its  tail.  Wordsworth,  who  knew 
something  of  the  sonnet,  tried  his  hand  at  defini- 
tion, and  the  best  he  could  do  was  to  describe  it 
as  a  convent  cell,  a  garden  plot,  a  key,  a  lute,  a 
pipe,  a  gay  myrtle  leaf,  a  glow-worm  lamp,  a  trum- 
pet, and,  finally,  in  despair,  as  a  Thing. 

The  sonnet  is  the  most  firmly  established  form 
in  English  poetical  composition  ;  and  yet  no  one 
can  tell  what  it  really  is,  nor  say  which  of  its  many 
forms  is  the  best.  How,  then,  shall  we  decide  in 
what  form  poetry  at  large  shall  be  written,  and 
by  what  law  shall  we  cast  aside  Whitman's  pieces, 
upon  discovery  that  they  do  not  reveal  a  Miltonic 
observance  of  the  usual  practice  of  composition  ? 

Now  that  we  are  so  far  entangled  in  this  matter 
of  literary  form,  it  is  as  easy  to  go  forward  as  to 
go  back.  Whitman,  in  a  like  case,  freed  himself 
at  one  stroke,  by  declaring  that  there  was  no  such 
thing  as  style.  He  advised  a  person  to  write  down 
the  thing  which  he  had  in  his  mind,  in  the  most 
suitable  words  which  he  could  find,  and  if  he  found 
fitting  words,  and  the  thing  were  worth  finding 
words  for,  then  he  would  be  writing  in  good  style. 


WALT  WHITMAN  257 

Similarly,  he  would  advise  a  painter,  who  had  a 
great  conception,  to  select  suitable  pigments  and 
lay  them  on  in  the  proper  way.  A  great  artist 
who  has  a  thing  to  say  can  say  it  with  the  end  of 
a  burnt  stick.    That  was  Whitman's  method. 

To  say  that  Whitman's  writings  are  not  like 
other  poetical  productions  is  to  affirm  that  a  fish 
is  not  like  a  dog.  Both  are  excellent  creatures  in 
their  own  way.  No  one  now  finds  fault  with  Mil- 
ton because  he  failed  to  apprehend  the  humor- 
ousness  of  early  Japanese  civilization,  or  of  life 
in  the  King's  navy.  That  was  left  for  Mr.  W.  S. 
Gilbert,  and  he  in  turn  lacks  something  of  the 
sobriety  of  the  great  Puritan  poet ;  but  we  must 
not  find  fault  with  him  for  that. 

When  Whitman  said  there  was  no  such  thing 
as  style,  he  meant  that  all  things  are  not  to  be 
said  in  the  same  way.  There  are  different  species 
of  compositions,  as  there  are  different  media  in 
which  an  artist  may  work,  though  some  may  suit 
his  temperament  better  than  others.  Matthew 
Arnold  knew  something  about  literary  composi- 
tion, and  yet  he  once  said  to  Mr.  Kussell :  "  People 
think  I  can  teach  them  a  style !  Have  something 
to  say,  and  say  it  as  clearly  as  you  can,  that  is  the 
only  secret  of  style.'* 

Whitman's  friends  took  his  saying  literally; 


258  ESSAYS  IN  PURITANISM 

and  all  writing  which  had  a  semblance  of  style 
they  declared  to  be  false.  Macaulay  was  their  pet 
aversion.  They  said  that  he  had  the  one  way  of 
saying  everything,  whether  it  was  a  description 
of  the  battle  of  Marathon  or  the  pelting  of  a 
parliamentary  candidate.  One  partisan  was  so 
extreme  as  to  characterize  that  great  writer  as 
a  brilliant,  thimble-rigging,  Scotch  scoundrel. 
Strange  to  say,  that  is  the  error  into  which  Whit- 
man has  fallen.  He  evolved  from  himself  a  form 
which  was  capable  of  expressing  adequately  the 
supreme  beauty  of  poetry.  He  misused  it  sorely 
by  putting  it  to  purposes  for  which  it  was  never 
intended.  He  employed  it  on  common  occasions, 
and  it  served  badly.  Prose  would  have  answered 
equally  well  for  the  most  of  his  doctrine. 

Yet  there  is  something  in  the  human  mind 
which  revolts  against  the  bizarre  and  grotesque, 
only  because  it  is  unfamiliar,  like  Japanese  draw- 
ings, with  their  strange  perspective,  or  even  im- 
pressionist pictures,  with  their  masses  of  form 
and  colour.  We  cannot  help  it.  There  are  some 
who  bewail  in  secret  their  incapacity  to  compre- 
hend the  poetry  of  Browning,  and  they  are  con- 
sumed with  envy  of  those  who  have  the  hardihood, 
as  they  think,  to  pretend  that  they  understand  it. 
An  eminent  critic  has  acknowledged  the  shame 


WALT  WHITMAN  259 

he  felt,  because  Whitman's  poetry  offended  his 
sense  of  form,  and  so  provoked  him  to  anger.  It 
was  only  when  he  read  the  poetry  in  the  French 
translation  that  he  was  able  to  enter  into  the 
heart  of  it ;  because  what  was  uncouth  in  English 
seemed  probably  enough  to  be  an  established 
form  in  the  French,  and  so  did  not  offend. 

A  great  poet  sees  the  whole  of  life  intimately 
and  records  his  observations  in  a  beautiful  way. 
Life  to  him  is  so  important  and  beautiful  that  he 
has  no  inclination  to  dwell  upon  any  particular 
aspect  of  it.  He  has  no  doctrine  to  teach,  no 
dogma  to  enforce.  Poetry  is  not  the  best  medium 
for  propagandism.  Other  and  greater  poets  than 
Whitman  have  set  their  hands  to  the  task  of 
enforcing  political  doctrine.  Heine  set  out  gayly 
as  a  soldier  in  the  Liberation  War  of  Humanity, 
and  ended  up  in  his  "  mattress-grave."  Goethe 
was  more  modest  in  his  ambition,  and  aimed  only 
to  be  the  liberator  of  Germany.  "  He  became 
eighty  years  old  in  doing  it,"  and  humanity  and 
Germany  remained  pretty  much  as  they  were. 
Byron  in  our  own  country  shattered  himself 
aofainst  forces  which  he  did  not  understand ;  and 
Shelley  beat  himseK  to  death  in  his  divine  rage. 
Keform  does  not  come  in  that  way. 

Whitman,  also,  was  more  concerned  with  his 


260  ESSAYS  IN  PURITANISM 

doctrines  than  with  his  poetry ;  and  poetry  is  a 
jealous  muse.  She  will  turn  aside  unless  followed 
wholly  for  herself.  She  is  a  kittle  creature  and 
will  balk  or  go  lame,  if  compelled  to  drag  any- 
thing so  heavy  as  politics  or  philosophy.  Much 
of  Whitman's  writing  is  not  poetry  at  all.  Indeed, 
Whitman  knew  that  as  well  as  we  do,  and  said  so 
openly.  For  a  similar  reason  some  persons  say 
that  they  find  Browning's  poetry  unsatisfactory. 
Indeed,  Carlyle  advised  him  in  the  strongest 
terms  to  abandon  the  practice  entirely  and  con- 
fine himself  to  prose.  That  great  writer  also  was 
so  absorbed  in  the  deep  things  which  he  had  in 
his  mind,  that,  occasionally,  it  seemed  to  him 
quite  unnecessary  to  find  better  rhymes  than 
"  well  swear  "  and  "  elsewhere  ;  "  "  monster  "  and 
"at  once  stir;"  "is  he"  and  "busy;"  "lion" 
and  "  eye  on  ; "  "  tail  up  "  and  "  scale  up." 

But  Whitman's  fatal  defect  was  that  he  did 
not  see  clearly.  His  vision  was  blurred.  He  had 
intuitions  which  he  failed  to  resolve  into  adequate 
words.  Only  at  times  did  his  vision  pierce  the 
clouds,  and  extend  to  height  and  serenity,  as  in 
"  Memories  of  Lincoln,"  with  its  splendid  lyric, 
"  Come,  lovely  and  soothing  death,"  and  its  noble 
apostrophe :  "  O  Captain  !  my  Captain  !  Our 
fearful  task  is  done ;  "  which  passes  the  measure 


WALT  WHITMAN  261 

of  words  into  "  Tears  ;  Tears  ;  Tears."  There  is 
a  common  belief  that  it  is  only  Browning  and 
Wordsworth  who  wrote  a  great  deal  of  bad 
poetry.  That  is  a  delusion.  There  are  passages 
and  pages  in  all  poetry,  with  the  single  exception 
of  Spenser's,  which  can  only  be  matched  by  those 
gems  of  thought  which  find  an  adequate  setting 
in  the  corner  of  a  country  newspaper.  Most 
of  Burns's  poetry  is  bad ;  much  of  Browning's 
is  merely  grotesque ;  and  some  of  Tennyson's  is 
silly.  Wordsworth  was  not  clearly  revealed  to 
the  world  until  Matthew  Arnold  had  stripped 
from  his  work  what  was  merely  a  laborious 
writing  of  tracts.  If  the  same  good  office  were 
performed  for  Whitman,  only  a  small  pamphlet 
would  remain ;  but  surely  men  are  intelligent 
enough  by  this  time  to  perform  that  humble 
editorial  office  for  themselves. 

Whitman  had  the  poet's  faculty  for  bringing 
out  the  occult  meaning  of  words  in  phrases  which 
have  become  part  of  the  language.  They  are 
scattered  profusely  in  his  writings,  and  appeal 
instantly  by  their  wonderful  clearness  and  per- 
fection: "the  shuddering  organ;"  "with  floods 
of  the  yellow  gold  of  the  gorgeous  sinking  sun ;  " 
"  the  coming  eve  delicious  ;  "  "  the  welcome  night 
and  the  stars ; "  "  the  large  imperial  waves ; "  "  the 


262  ESSAYS  IN  PURITANISM 

huge  and  thoughtful  night;  "  "  the  white  arms  out 
in  the  breakers  tirelessly  tossing  ; "  "  whom  fate 
can  never  surprise  nor  death  dismay."  To  pass 
from  such  phrases,  taken  at  random,  noble  in  con- 
ception and  felicitous  in  expression,  as  they  are,  it 
would  be  easy  to  mention  whole  compositions  of 
sustained  beauty  and  splendour :  "  When  lilacs  last 
in  the  door-yard  bloomed  ; "  "  Out  of  the  cradle, 
endlessly  rocking;"  "At  the  last  tenderly;" 
"  Vigil  strange,  I  kept  on  the  field  one  night." 

These  things  could  not  be  so  adequately  said 
in  any  other  way,  and  no  one  but  Whitman  could 
express  them  in  that  manner.  That  is  the  test  of 
style.  When  our  first  parents  were  engaged  in 
their  great  work  of  classification,  it  is  claimed  by 
a  high  authority  that  a  dispute  arose  over  the 
nomenclature  of  a  genus  which  was  typical  of 
the  Rhinocerotidae :  "  Why  do  you  call  it  a  rhi- 
noceros ?  "  "  Well,  what  else  could  you  call  it  ?  " 
was  the  sensible  retort.  So  it  was  with  Whitman. 
How  else  could  these  pieces  have  been  written  ? 
The  sense  and  the  sound  are  as  inseparable  as 
the  music  and  emotion  of  the  Mcintosh's  lament 
when  heard  in  a  Highland  glen. 

When  Whitman's  poetry  first  appeared,  it 
was  as  full  of  poetical  quality  as  it  is  now ;  yet 
the  people  who  read  it  were  so  dominated  by  the 


WALT  WHITMAN  263 

spirit  of  their  time,  and  so  confused  by  the 
strangeness  of  its  form  that  they  could  see  in 
it  nothing  save  his  unconventional  speech,  his 
ungrammatical  construction,  his  self-complacency, 
his  misplaced  Spanish  and  French  words  and 
phrases,  and  the  turgid  nonsense  in  much  of  his 
serious  poetry. 

Apart  from  these  spontaneous  outbursts,  Whit- 
man strove  to  do  with  deliberation  what  great 
poets  have  done  unwittingly.  His  ambition  was 
to  give  an  expression  of  the  Cosmos,  which  he 
understood  to  be  the  United  States  of  America  ; 
and  he  spent  most  of  his  time  in  telling  how  he 
was  going  to  set  about  it.  He  was  to  do  it  by 
a  series  of  glittering  images,  and  he  does  produce 
the  impression  which  he  sought  upon  a  reader 
who  will  give  himself  unreservedly  into  his  hands, 
a  willing  victim  to  the  poet's  will.  Wordsworth 
produced  the  same  effect  in  four  lines,  and  he  did 
it  quite  incidentally,  concerned  as  he  was  only 
about  the  death  of  a  child : 

No  motion  has  she  now,  no  force ; 

She  neither  hears  nor  sees  ; 
Rolled  round  in  earth's  diurnal  course, 

With  rocks,  and  stones,  and  trees. 

The  bent  of  Whitman's  mind,  also,  was  in 
reality  toward  the  Infinite ;  or  rather  he  perceived 


264  ESSAYS  IN  PURITANISM 

no  severance  of  mind  from  matter,  of  the  finite 
from  the  infinite.  That  was  a  characteristic  of 
the  best  New  England  philosophy.  Emerson  had 
it  in  perfection,  and  he  was  continually  being 
derided  for  his  "pantheistic  prattling."  Whit- 
man took  the  thing  for  granted.  The  specula- 
tions of  Spinoza  were  beneath  him  —  that  the 
attributes  of  mind  alone  ;  of  Strauss  —  that  the 
attributes  of  matter  alone ;  of  Hegel  —  that 
the  attributes  of  both  together  —  are  embodied 
in  the  Universal  Being.  To  Whitman  as  to  all 
the  poets, 

God  dwells  within,  and  moves  the  world  and  moulds, 
Himself  and  Nature  in  one  form  enfolds, 
Thus  all  that  lives  in  Him,  and  breathes,  and  is, 
Shall  ne'er  His  power  nor  His  spirit  miss. 

Whitman  spoke  for  that  large  class  which  can- 
not speak  for  itself,  and,  indeed,  is  not  conscious 
that  it  has  anything  to  say.  Mr.  Kipling  spoke  for 
the  same  class,  but  he  did  it  with  so  much  literary 
skill  that  they  did  not  recognize  his  voice  for  their 
own.  The  mass  of  humanity  does  not  express 
itself  in  words.  The  firemen  who  live  a  life  of 
heroism  amidst  the  disasters  of  a  city ;  the  farmers 
who  spend  their  years  in  patient  toil ;  the  open- 
throated,  hairy-breasted  pioneers,  cattle-breeders, 
miners  and  frontiersmen,  who  have  pushed  their 


WALT  WHITMAN  265 

way  against  barbarity  and  desolation  —  these 
have  quite  other  voices. 

Whitman  also  spoke  for  the  openly  vicious, 
and  said  to  them,  "  Go  and  sin  no  more."  To  him 
there  was  nothing  common  or  unclean.  Nothing 
was  outside  of  his  sympathy.  He  sat  at  meat 
with  publicans  and  sinners,  with  female  "peri- 
patetics," who  are  technically  called  walkers-of 
the-street.  He  indulged  in  a  way  of  life  which  is 
friendly  to  the  knowledge  of  human  nature  and 
good  feelings.  He  said  to  his  companions  :  "  Xot 
till  the  sun  excludes  you,  do  I  exclude  you." 

There  is  the  gospel  of  hope.  He  went  about 
with  the  people  amongst  the  soldiery  in  camp 
and  hospital,  amongst  the  negroes  of  the  planta- 
tions, and  the  wandering  journalists  of  great 
cities.  He  perceived  that  out  of  one  blood  are  all 
men  made,  that  toil  and  suffering  is  their  portion, 
and  he  proclaimed  in  strong,  sinewy  sentences 
that  the  remedy  for  the  evils  which  he  witnessed 
was  Love  —  the  same  which  Jesus  proclaimed  in 
Nazareth.  He  strove  to  ameliorate  the  labours 
of  men  by  the  Institution  of  the  dear  love  of  com- 
rades : 

By  the  love  of  comrades, 

With  the  life-long  love  of  comrades, 

By  the  manly  love  of  comrades. 


266  ESSAYS  IN   PURITANISM 

Upon  the  earlier  occasion  when  the  doctrine  of 
love  was  being  preached,  only  a  few  of  the  Phari- 
sees of  Judaea  were  filthy-minded  enough  to  sup- 
pose that  anything  else  was  meant. 

Whitman's  outlook  was  so  wide  that  he  in- 
cluded even  the  animals  within  his  view.  He 
established  the  brotherhood  between  mankind 
and  the  rest  of  the  animal  creation,  though  he  did 
not  push  it  quite  to  a  relationship  with  marine 
engines  and  tramp  steamships.  Animals  as  well 
as  men  pleased  him.  They  brought  him  tokens  of 
himself : 

They  do  not  lie  awake  in  the  dark  and  weep  for  their  sins, 
They  do  not  make  one  sick  discussing  their  duty  to  God. 

There  is  a  common  expression,  "  to  stand  on 
one's  manhood,"  which  has  now  become  the  cant 
of  thieves.  It  is  the  habitual  phrase  in  a  news- 
paper called  the  "  Star  of  Hope,"  which,  some  may 
not  know,  is  an  organ  of  opinion  written  entirely 
by  convicts  in  the  prisons  of  the  State  of  New 
York.  To  Whitman  the  thing  had  a  meaning. 
Because  a  living  creature  was  a  human  being,  and 
yet  alive,  however  degraded  or  prostituted,  in 
virtue  of  his  humanity  he  might  yet  stand  up  and 
face  the  world.  More  than  that,  he  proclaimed 
the  awful  fellowship  which  we  all  hold  with 
"  felons,  with  convicts  in  prison  cells,  with  sen- 


WALT  WHITMAN  267 

tenced  assassins,  chained  and  handcuffed  with 
iron,"  because  evil  is  also  in  us. 

Those  who  have  had  the  patience  to  inform 
themselves  of  the  views  upon  human  life  which 
prevailed  during  the  time  of  Jonathan  Edwards, 
will  observe  that  Whitman  looked  upon  the  mat- 
ter in  a  different  light.  To  those  fathers  in  New 
England,  humanity  was  a  poor  thing,  a  vile  worm, 
loathsome,  deformed,  altogether  filthy,  and  re- 
served only  for  burning.  Whitman  looked  on  the 
thing  as  it  is,  "  not  through  the  eyes  of  the  dead, 
not  as  a  spectre  in  books."  He  went  to  the  bank 
by  the  wood.  He  looked  at  humanity  undisguised 
and  naked.  "  Clear  and  sweet  was  its  soul :  clear 
and  sweet  in  all  that  is  not  its  soul."  To  this  poet 
it  was  yet  the  evening  of  the  sixth  day,  when  God 
surveyed  everything  which  he  had  made,  and 
behold  it  was  very  good.  The  Puritan  theologians 
saw  only  that  the  wickedness  of  man  was  great 
in  the  earth,  that  every  imagination  of  the 
thoughts  in  his  heart  was  evil  continually  ;  and 
whatever  may  have  been  the  sentiments  of  the 
Creator  toward  His  own  handiwork,  certainly  it 
repented  them  that  man  had  been  made  on  the 
earth,  and  it  grieved  them  to  the  heart. 

To  Whitman's  eyes,  everything  was  beautiful, 
in  the  full  light  of  the  sun,  which  was  ugly  and 


268  ESSAYS  IN  PURITANISM 

distorted  in  the  fearful  gloom  which  brooded  over 
the  world  of  the  theologians.  That  gloom  was  yet 
heavy  over  New  England  when  Walt  Whitman 
came,  crying  out  that  all  things  should  stand  forth 
in  the  light. 

Fifty  years  have  passed  away  since  this  loud 
voice  disturbed  the  New  England  calm.  In  this 
half  century  there  has  been  time  for  the  people  at 
large,  friends  and  foes,  to  return  to  their  senses, 
and  apply  a  sane  judgement  to  those  two  extreme 
views.  In  so  far  as  Whitman  dealt  with  the  domi- 
nant passion  of  humanity,  he  was  in  the  right. 
But  it  is  a  ground  of  offence  which  can  never  be 
removed,  that  he  attempted  to  drag  into  litera- 
ture those  secret  functions  of  the  human  body, 
which,  necessary  as  they  are  for  carrying  out  its 
purpose,  are  not  fit  subject  for  mention  outside 
of  a  laboratory,  a  hospital,  or  a  sick-room.  There 
are  subjects  which  a  professor  of  physiology  may 
handle  freely  in  his  class-room.  The  consensus 
of  mankind  is  that  he  shall  not  mention  them  in 
a  mixed  company  which  is  not  assembled  for  that 
specific  purpose.  It  is  conceivable  that  such  a 
professor  might  consider  it  to  be  his  duty  to 
utilize  every  occasion  for  propagating  knowledge ; 
but  such  conduct  would  surely  lay  him  open  to 
misconstruction.    He  might  be  animated  by  the 


WALT  WHITMAN  269 

loftiest  of  motives,  yet  this  conduct  would  render 
him  liable  to  be  classed  with  insane  persons  and 
beasts,  who  habitually  conduct  themselves  in  a 
shameless  way  in  public  places.  At  least  their 
conduct  seems  shameless  to  us. 

We  admit  to  the  uttermost  that  there  is  nothing 
obscene  in  nature,  save  the  single  exception  of 
obscene  persons.  We  also  admit  that  there  is 
such  a  thing  as  good  taste.  Every  community 
and  every  age  has  its  own  notions  as  to  what  sub- 
jects are  fit  for  mention,  and  what  for  reticence. 
In  England  there  is  a  tacit  agreement  that  the 
Pulex  irritans  shall  not  be  referred  to  in  polite 
society;  the  Pediculus,  in  all  its  varieties,  is 
a  proper  subject  for  discussion.  In  the  United 
States  a  contrary  custom  prevails.  Half  a  cen- 
tury ago,  in  New  England,  it  was  not  considered 
proper  for  women  to  regale  each  other,  even  in 
private,  with  an  account  of  the  pathology  of  the 
various  organs  of  the  body,  as  discovered  by  their 
most  recent  medical  adviser;  and  there  remain 
to  this  day  some  persons  who  consider  such  con- 
versation to  be  essentially  obscene. 

Whitman's  friends  protest  that  there  are  not 
more  than  eighty  lines  in  all  his  writings  which 
can  be  challenged  on  this  ground  of  offence,  and 
they  enumerate  far  more  in  the  Hebrew  scriptures 


270  ESSAYS  IN  PURITANISM 

and  other  writings  of  undoubted  moral  value.   A 
great  deal  can  be  said  in  eighty  lines,  and  we  may- 
admit  at  once  that  the  conversation  between  two 
patriarchs  in  Lower  Asia  might  be  offensive  to 
a  person  of  very  moderate  susceptibilities.    Old 
persons  and  primitive  people  are  habitually  free 
in  their  speech.    But  it  is  the  universal  opinion 
that  there  are  matters  which  are  not  fit  subject 
for  poetry,  or  even  for  discussion  between  decent 
and  civilized  men.     The   enquiries  of   children 
are  sometimes  embarrassing  to  perfectly  sensible 
people;    but  if  a  child  gloried  in   such   public 
exhibitions,  we  should  say  he  was  branded  with 
the  mark  of  the  beast. 

In  the  "  Song  of  Myself,"  and  in  much  else- 
where, Whitman  has  committed  this  offence,  and 
we  cannot  acquit  him  even  on  the  grounds  of 
naivete.  An  anatomical  catalogue,  even  when 
enlivened  by  occasional  reference  to  the  physio- 
logical functions  for  which  the  various  organs  are 
designed,  is  without  essential  beauty.  No  amount 
of  genius  can  clothe  it  with  the  grace  of  poetry. 
No  excess  of  "  naturalness  "  can  justify  a  writer 
in  holding  up  such  things  to  public  view.  The 
attempt  to  do  so  will  always  end  in  failure,  for 
people  will  turn  away  their  eyes.  The  thing  is 
an  offence  to  the  human  mind,  and  has  been  an 


WALT  WHITMAN  271 

offence  ever  since  humanity  differentiated  itself 
from  the  rest  of  the  animal  creation.  Therefore, 
we  can  understand  why  Whitman's  generation 
turned  its  eyes  away  from  the  spectacle  of  human- 
ity which  he  held  up,  even  if  it  missed  thereby 
much  that  was  valuable  and  beautiful.  We,  with 
our  wider  experience  and  more  distant  point  of 
view,  have  learned  to  neglect  the  objects  which 
should  offend,  and  happily  do  offend  us.  For  us 
remains  the  beauty  alone. 

Nor  can  we  consider  it  a  ground  of  praise  that 
Whitman  devised  a  new  form  of  expression,  un- 
less we  are  convinced  that  the  forms  established 
by  long  usage  were  worn  out.  There  have  been 
great  poets,  who  have  gone  deep  and  far,  perhaps 
as  deep  and  far  as  Whitman  went,  and  yet  gave 
no  signs  of  being  hedged  about.  Whitman  knew 
little  about  established  forms  of  expression  in  art, 
and  cared  nothing.  But  he  knew  and  cared  for 
the  things  out  of  which  art  is  created.  More  than 
any  other,  he  fulfilled  the  saying  of  Hazlitt  that 
poetry  is  the  stuff  out  of  which  the  life  of  the 
people  is  made. 

He  had  a  perception  and  knowledge  of  the 
beauty  of  the  human  form  and  of  the  meaning 
and  beauty  of  every  created  thing.  The  leaf  of 
grass  was  as  wonderful  as  the  stars  ;  the  tree-toad 


272  ESSAYS  IN   PURITANISM 

was  a  master  work  of  the  highest,  and  the  run- 
ning blackberry  would  adorn  the  fabric  of  the 
heavens ;  the  hinge  of  the  hand  put  to  scorn  all 
other  machinery,  and  the  cow  in  the  pasture  sur- 
passed any  statue. 

All  interest  in  Whitman's  vagaries  of  speech 
and  conduct  and  doctrine,  and  in  the  conditions 
against  which  he  was  in  revolt,  has  passed  away, 
save  for  the  interest  which  we  all  feel  in  the 
phenomena  of  literature.  As  this  interest  disap- 
pears, we  behold  the  just  measure  of  his  poetical 
genius,  and  assent  to  the  truth  contained  in  those 
lines  which  appeared  at  the  time  of  his  death,  in 
an  English  periodical,  where  Americans  do  not 
look  for  such  things.   They  are  remarkably  just 

—  though  they  do  not  at  all  indicate  a  sense  of 
his  philosophic  importance,  or  of  the  gift  which  he 
conferred  upon  his  fellow  men  of  this  latter  day 

—  namely,  in  opening  our  eyes  to  the  beauty  and 
dignity  of  human  beings  and  human  things,  and 
breaking  down  one,  at  least,  of  the  false  conven- 
tions of  Puritanism;  somewhat  as  Wordsworth 
opened  the  eyes  of  the  generations  which  came 
after  him  to  the  beauty  and  grace  of  inanimate 
objects ;  as  Burns  revealed  the  poetry  of  lowly 
life ;  as  Rousseau  "  introduced  something  green 
into  literature." 


WALT  WHITMAN  273 

"  The  g-ood  gray  poet,"  gone  !  Brave,  hopeful  Walt ! 

He  might  not  be  a  singer  without  fault. 

And  his  large,  rough-hewn  rhythm  did  not  chime 

With  dulcent  daintiness  of  time  and  rhyme. 

He  was  no  neater  than  wild  Nature's  wild, 

More  metrical  than  sea  winds.   Culture's  child, 

Lapped  in  luxurious  laws  of  line  and  lilt. 

Shrank  from  him  shuddering,  who  was  roughly  built 

As  Cyclopean  temples.   Yet  there  rang 

True  music  through  his  rhapsodies,  as  he  sang 

Of  brotherhood,  and  freedom,  love,  and  hope, 

With  strong,  wide  S3mapathy  which  dared  to  cope 

With  all  life's  phases,  and  call  nought  tmclean. 

Whilst  hearts  are  generous,  and  whilst  woods  are  green, 

He  shall  find  hearers,  who,  in  a  slack  time 

Of  puny  bards  and  pessimistic  rhyme, 

Dared  to  bid  men  adventure  and  rejoice. 

His  "  yawp  barbaric  "  was  a  human  voice ; 

The  singer  was  a  man.   America 

Is  poorer  by  a  stalwart  soul  to-day, 

And  may  feel  pride  that  she  hath  given  birth 

To  this  stout  laureate  of  old  Mother  Earth. 


JOHN  WESLEY 


JOHN  WESLEY 

A  British  subject  from  an  outland  region  of  the 
Empire,  who  had  suffered  in  heart,  person,  and 
estate  through  the  turmoil  in  South  Africa,  went 
to  London  in  search  of  restoration  and  comfort. 
He  found  neither  the  one  nor  the  other.  It  was 
during  the  events  preceding  the  Coronation,  and 
he  lay  in  his  lodgings  too  weak  to  resist  the 
temptation  of  reading  the  morning  papers,  and 
yet,  unfortunately,  with  strength  sufficient  to 
perform  that  labour.  From  them  he  gained  the 
impression  that  the  great  things  which  had  been 
done  were  effected  by  men  who  arranged  the 
routes  of  processions,  who  gathered  on  the  Dover 
pier  to  welcome  important  personages,  who  turned 
neat  diplomatic  phrases,  and  skilfully  resisted 
the  importunities  of  claimants  for  places  in  the 
Abbey,  or  other  social  distinctions.  To  test  the 
correctness  of  such  an  impression,  this  bewildered 
subject  left  his  bed  and  began  a  tour  through 
the  Fen  country,  following  in  the  steps  of  a  man 
who  in  his  own  way  had  performed  great  deeds 
from  Saint  Ives   to   Ely  and   back  to    Sidney 


278  ESSAYS  IN  PURITANISM 

Sussex  College,  to  EdgehiU,  Marston  Moor,  and 
Dunbar.  The  impression  proved  to  be  wrong; 
he  learned  that  the  great  deeds  have  always  been 
wrought  by  men  who  did  not  take  much  thought 
about  the  appearance  of  things ;  that  history  is 
not  made  by  actors ;  that  it  is  made  by  people 
who  are  fulfilling  their  life  functions,  with  a  fine 
unconcern  as  to  the  impression  which  they  are 
creating. 

We  can  never  get  beyond  the  merest  guess  as 
to  why  any  given  series  of  events  occurs.  We  do 
not  even  know  how  it  is  that  we  digest  our  food, 
and  how  its  elements  are  transformed  into  force. 
We  can  mark  certain  stages  separated  from  one 
another  by  a  mystery  of  change ;  we  observe  the 
results  which  are  pleasurable  or  painful,  or,  as  we 
call  them,  good  or  bad.  The  first  business  of  an 
historian  is  to  ascertain  about  any  given  period 
whether  the  main  drift  was  in  the  direction  of 
good  or  evil ;  and  events  are  only  to  be  inter- 
preted in  their  relation  to  this  main  current.  One 
portion  of  the  people  will  do  evil  continually; 
another  portion  will  do  evil  for  a  while ;  but  all 
the  people  will  not  do  evil  together  for  any  great 
length  of  time.  It  is  not  the  nature  of  the  human 
mind  to  do  only  evil  continually ;  and  this  view 
is  put  forward  with  confidence,  in  spite  of  some 


JOHN  WESLEY  279 

considerable  authority  to  the  contrary.  The  move- 
ment of  the  race  is  away  from  the  beast.  It  will 
probably  excite  the  laughter  of  fools  to  hear  once 
more  that  the  only  greatness  is  that  which  assists 
in  this  movement.  All  other  excursions  after 
greatness  end  in  blind  alleys.  Napoleon,  for 
example,  who,  above  all  men,  desired  to  attain 
to  greatness,  got  himself  into  a  pretty  bad  hole 
by  following  his  own  estimate  of  things.  *'  When 
a  king  is  said  to  be  a  good  man,"  he  declared, 
"  his  reign  is  unsuccessful ;  "  and  again,  "  A  prince 
who  passes  for  good  in  the  first  year  of  his  reign 
is  a  prince  who  will  be  ridiculed  in  his  second." 
If  Napoleon  is  now  a  subject  of  ridicule,  it  is 
certainly  not  due  to  any  excess  of  goodness  on 
his  part. 

Our  impressions  of  a  period  are  based  upon  the 
characterization  of  persons  whose  conduct  lends 
itself  readily  to  literary  treatment ;  and  if  it  is 
amenable  to  the  dramatic  form  we  fall  into  the 
error  of  believing  that  they  had  all  to  do  with 
the  shaping  of  events.  The  eighteenth  century  is 
fixed  in  our  minds  as  a  period  of  frank  brutality, 
because  Johnson  was  brutally  frank;  of  ill- 
natured  jesting,  because  Pope  was  an  ill-natured 
jester ;  of  intricacy  and  finesse,  because  Horace 
Walpole  was  a  shrewish  tale-bearer,  and  Selwyn 


280  ESSAYS  IN  PURITANISM 

a  snickering  gossip ;  as  an  age  of  rhetoric,  because 
Burke  persuaded  himself  that  what  he  was  saying 
was  true,  and,  in  some  degree,  still  imposes  his 
belief  upon  us. 

As  we  get  further  away  from  the  eighteenth 
century,  we  shall  see  that  it  was  one  of  those 
periods  in  which  the  human  race  had  reached  one 
of  its  low  levels  of  degradation.  We  shall  also 
see  that  the  portion  of  the  race  which  occupied 
the  British  Islands  began  an  upward  movement 
toward  better  things.  It  is  one  of  the  fascina- 
tions of  history  to  note  the  predominance  of  good 
or  evil  in  any  given  epoch,  and  to  follow  the 
course  by  which  those  conditions  came  to  prevail. 
"We  cannot  trace  all  the  steps  of  the  gradual 
descent  by  which  the  English  people  arrived  in 
the  slough  of  the  early  part  of  the  eighteenth 
century ;  nor  can  we  follow  the  upward  movement 
by  which  they  emerged  into  the  light  toward  the 
close  of  that  period,  any  more  than  we  can  follow 
the  slow  upheaval  of  a  continent,  by  which  por- 
tions here  and  there  lift  up  their  heads.  But  we 
can  note  the  points  at  which  this  movement  in 
either  direction  is  most  perceptible. 

This  downward  career  began  at  the  Restoration 
of  Charles,  and  it  is  the  fashion  to  explain  the 
evils  which  followed  that  event  by  the  formula : 


281 

reaction  against  Puritanism.    The  truth  is  that 
Puritanism  had  taken  a  sword  in  its  hand  under 
Cromwell's  direction,  and  all  but  perished  by  the 
sword.    Henceforth,  the  world   was  to  have  its 
own  way  for  a  space.  The  spirit  which  animated  the 
Puritans  had  forsaken  the  world  and  retired  for 
contemplation.    There  it  remained  for  a  hundred 
years,  till  the  voice  of  Methodism  called  it  forth. 
Puritanism  was  not  a  prison :   it  was  a  refuge. 
It  is  the  habit  of  men,  who  require  for  the  satis- 
faction of  their  eyes  a  high  point  of  view  and 
a  wide  outlook,  to  regard  those  who  take  refuge 
in  Puritanism  as  being  "  cribb'd,  cabined,  and  con- 
fined."   Rather,  it  is  to  them  a  "  convent's  narrow 
room,  a  pensive  citadel,"  and  the  prison  to  which 
they  doom  themselves  is  in  truth  no  prison  to 
them.    There  are  qualities  which  find  their  best 
development  where  there  is  not  too  much  liberty. 
It  is  given  unto  nations  as  unto  individuals 
"  to  walk  in  the  woods."   There  is  a  refuge  from 
sorrow  in  the  spirit  as  well  as  in  the  senses.    It 
has  been  unto  this  refuge  of  the  spirit  that  all  the 
prophets  have  called  men,  when  they  perceived 
that  their  misery  was  sore  upon  them  ;  and  in  that 
lies  the  secret  of  the  attraction  of  Puritanism.  It 
was  unto  this  spirit  that  Jeremiah  appealed,  when 
he  declared  that  no  nation  can  be  righteous  when 


282  ESSAYS   IN   PURITANISM 

the  life  of  tlie  individual  is  impure ;  Isaiah,  that 
national  power  lies  alone  in  righteousness  ;  Micah, 
that  there  is  a  God  of  the  poor  and  an  avenger 
of  them ;  the  prophets  of  the  Restoration,  that  re- 
ligion with  form  or  without  form  may  be  equally 
acceptable ;  and  the  great  Unknown  Prophet,  that 
unrighteousness  is  only  to  be  overcome  by  suffer- 
ing. But  the  finest  type  of  Puritanism  is  Saint 
Francis,  who  attained  to  such  a  mastery  over  the 
things  of  the  world  that  he  wa-^  enabled  to  cry, 
"  Praised  be  my  Lord  for  our  F.ster,  the  death  of 
the  body." 

This  upward  movement  toward  righteousness 
is  usually  slow  and  imperceptible.  At  times  it  is 
accelerated,  and  the  upheaval  is  accompanied  by 
much  dislocation  and  many  faults.  The  latter  half 
of  the  eighteenth  century  witnessed  such  a  violent 
disturbance,  and  it  is  associated  with  the  name 
of  John  Wesley.  It  was  he  who  drew  the  spark ; 
therefore  he  is  the  great  figure  of  the  eighteenth 
century,  as  Cromwell  is  the  great  figure  of  the 
seventeenth,  Calvin  and  Luther  of  the  sixteenth, 
Savonarola  of  the  fifteenth,  Jesus  of  Nazareth  and 
Saul  of  Tarsus  of  the  first. 

Of  all  these  great  men,  John  Wesley  —  his 
names  were  John  Benjamin  —  is  the  best  known 
to  us.    We  know  him  through  contemporary  writ- 


JOHN  WESLEY  283 

ers :  at  least  we  know  what  they  said  that  they 
thought  of  him  ;  we  have  full  and  elaborate  ac- 
counts at  the  hands  of  his  enemies  ;  and  above  all, 
we  have  his  own  journals  in  twenty-six  volumes 
of  manuscript,  copious  extracts  from  which  have 
been  published.  But  these  extracts  have  not  been 
made  public  with  entire  frankness.  They  are 
meant  to  show  every  side  of  Wesley  save  that 
which  interests  us  most.  They  are  profitable  for 
instruction  unto  godliness ;  they  are  hortative 
and  mandatory  to  Methodists  ;  but  to  the  reader 
at  large  these  excerpts  afford  little  information 
of  the  wealth  of  human  material  in  the  manuscript 
volumes. 

If  there  be  any  persons  in  these  days  who  en- 
gage in  the  laborious  occupation  of  keeping  a  jour- 
nal, it  is  certain  that  a  hundred  years  hence  they 
will  be  derided  for  neglecting  to  record  events 
which  will  then  appear  to  have  been  of  real  im- 
portance. Wesley's  life  covered  practically  the 
whole  of  the  eighteenth  century ;  he  lived  in  the 
midst  of  affairs  which  we  are  accustomed  to  look 
upon  as  the  subject-matter  of  history,  and  he  had 
a  knowledge  of  men  whose  names  are  associated 
inseparably  in  our  minds  with  that  period.  Yet 
in  his  journal  we  find  no  mention  of,  or  only 
the  scantiest  references   to,  the   two   desperate 


284  ESSAYS   IN   PURITANISM 

attempts  of  the  Pretender  to  regain  the  throne,  to 
the  events  by  which  India  and  Canada  were  won, 
and  the  American  Colonies  lost  to  England.  The 
truth  is,  the  people  were  not  profoundly  interested 
in  those  operations,  any  more  than  the  readers  of 
the  newspapers  the  other  day  were  permanently 
interested  in  the  eruption  from  a  mountain  which 
destroyed  the  lives  of  fifty  thousand  persons. 
Wesley  was  close  to  the  heart  of  England,  while 
Walpole  and  his  associates  stood  entirely  aloof 
from  its  passion  and  enthusiasm.  They  believed 
in  the  efficacy  of  a  lie  ;  and  persons  like  Wesley, 
who  believed  in  the  truth,  were  looked  upon  as 
merely  eccentric  or  ignorant  or  ill-bred,  and  in 
any  event  not  worthy  of  consideration. 

The  character  of  the  literature  which  that  age 
produced  would  alone  reveal  the  stagnation  out 
of  which  it  arose  ;  Johnson's  ponderous  diction- 
aries, the  raillery  of  Swift,  the  distillation  of 
Pope's  ill  nature,  the  indolence  of  Thomson,  the 
servile  dedications  and  the  tedious  vulgarity  of 
the  novelists,  and  the  outpourings  of  the  doctrin- 
aires. Literature  had  become  entirely  dissociated 
from  morality  as  well  as  from  life.  Gray  was 
writing  elegies  in  churchyards.  Wesley  took  his 
stand  upon  his  father's  tomb  in  Epworth  and 
preached :  "  The  Kingdom  of  Heaven  is  not  meat 


JOHN   WESLEY  286 

and   drink,   but   righteousness,   and   peace,  and 

joy." 

It  would  at  first  sight  appear  superfluous  to  add 
anything  to  what  has  been  said  upon  the  subject 
of  Wesley,  this  century  past,  in  the  numerous 
lives  of  him  which  have  been  written,  more  par- 
ticularly during  the  recent  celebration  of  the 
bi-centenary  of  his  birth,  from  89,087  pulpits,  by 
48,344  ministers,  and  104,786  local  preachers,  to 
nearly  twenty-five  million  adherents.  Yet  in  the 
feeble  hope  that  this  cloud  of  witnesses  may  have 
left  something  unrevealed,  and  in  a  well-grounded 
belief  that  outside  these  twenty-five  millions  of 
sealed  ones  there  are  some  who  have  an  interest 
in  serious  things,  it  is  worth  taking  the  event  as 
a  pretext  for  making  one  or  two  observations, 
which,  if  they  have  no  new  bearing  upon  Wesley, 
may  have  something  to  do  with  the  spirit  of  the 
time  in  which  he  lived,  and  with  the  people  who 
are  called  by  his  name. 

To  one  who  has  tasted  and  found  the  richness 
of  Calvinism,  it  is  no  use  appealing  with  the  doc- 
trine of  Wesley.  He  was  merely  an  Arminian, 
and  any  Calvinist  knows  what  that  means.  He 
believed  that  men  could  be  led,  and  that  they 
could  not  be  driven  ;  that  the  God  of  Calvin  was 
"  a  tyrant  and  executioner ;"  that  the  decrees  of 


286  ESSAYS  IN   PURITANISM 

God  were  conditional  upon  human  action ;  that 
the  sovereignty  of  God  is  compatible  with  the 
freedom  of  man  ;  that  man  is  free  and  able  to  will 
and  perform  the  right ;  that  every  believer  may 
be  assured  of  his  salvation  ;  and  very  much  other 
blasphemy  besides.  The  fact  is,  Wesley  was  no 
theologian.  He  was  not  qualified  by  nature  for 
that  high  office ;  he  "  never  had  a  quarter  of  an 
hour's  lowness  of  spirit  since  he  was  born." 

It  was  Wesley's  capacity  for  seeing  the  correct 
proportion  of  things  which  prevented  him  from 
becoming  a  mere  theologian.  With  his  strong 
common  sense,  he  perceived  that  there  are  "many 
truths  it  is  not  worth  while  to  know,  curious 
trifles  upon  which  it  is  unpardonable  to  spend  our 
small  pittance  of  life."  He  had  a  great  heart,  if 
not  a  mind  of  the  proper  texture  for  theological 
invention.  The  fact  which  was  of  supreme  import- 
ance in  his  eyes  was  that  the  individual  should 
have  a  correct  attitude  of  mind  toward  the  things 
which  are  right,  and  toward  the  things  which  are 
wrong,  and  the  attainment  of  this  correct  attitude 
he  signified  by  the  term  Conversion.  But  there 
was  something  more.  He  was  not  satisfied  with 
a  mere  intellectual  assent,  a  passive  toleration  of 
goodness  and  a  theoretical  dissent  from  evil ;  he 
demanded  that  the  intellectual  process  should  be 


JOHN   WESLEY  287 

quickened  by  emotion  into  an  intense  conviction 
of  the  heinousness  of  sin,  accompanied  by  an 
ardent  desire  to  turn  away  from  it  with  hatred 
and  horror. 

But  theologians  who  place  this  doctrine  of  con- 
version in  the  forefront  of  their  argument  are 
prone  to  the  discouraging  inference  that  sinners 
alone  can  attain  to  any  great  degree  of  saint- 
liness.  To  Wesley,  therefore,  is  attributed  all 
manner  of  evil.  He  is  spoken  of  by  his  friends  as 
a  profligate,  who  entered  school  as  a  saint  and  left 
it  a  sinner.  The  period  during  which  this  degra- 
dation occurred  was  that  between  his  twelfth  and 
sixteenth  year.  As  he  went  immediately  to  Christ 
Church  as  a  scholar,  his  transgressions  could  not 
have  been  very  revolting.  Wesley  himseK  rather 
lends  colour  to  the  belief  in  his  sinfulness  by  his 
desperate  confession  that  he  was  wont  to  console 
himself  with  the  delusion  that  he  was  not  so  bad 
as  other  people,  that  he  had  merely  a  kindliness 
for  religion,  and  read  his  Bible  and  prayers  in  a 
perfunctory  way.  Even  to-day,  in  Oxford,  such 
a  state  of  mind  would  not  be  accepted  as  proof  of 
any  great  debauchery. 

The  only  specific  crime  that  can  be  laid  to 
Wesley's  charge  was  his  going  in  debt,  and  that, 
according  to  Benjamin  Franklin,  is  the  first  of  all 


288  ESSAYS  IN   PURITANISM 

vices,  lying  being  the  second.  But  the  sin  is  less 
heinous  when  committed  by  a  man  with  fifty 
pounds  a  year,  than  it  is  when  his  income 
amounts  to  fifty  thousand  pounds.  He  did  borrow 
money,  and  his  mother  once  wrote  to  him  express- 
ing the  great  concern  which  she  felt  for  the  man 
who  had  lent  him  ten  pounds.  The  Wesley  fam- 
ily always  lived  on  the  edge  of  poverty,  which  is 
a  much  worse  situation  than  penury,  and  there 
is  something  heroic  in  the  struggle  of  the  father 
against  the  pressure  of  limited  means.  In  his 
early  days  he  had  been  imprisoned  for  debt,  and 
all  his  life  it  was  a  struggle  with  the  grim  spectre. 
There  is  nothing  more  tragic  in  life  than  an 
honest  man  in  the  toils  of  pecuniary  necessity. 
To  his  son  he  writes :  "  I  will  assist  you  in  the 
charge  for  ordination,  though  I  am  myself  just 
now  struggling  for  life ;  the  last  ten  pounds 
pinched  me  hard,  and  I  am  forced  to  beg  time  of 

to  pay  him  the  ten  pounds  you  say  he 

lent  you.  What  will  be  my  fate  God  only  knows, 
yet  my  Jack  is  fellow  of  Lincoln."  There  is  the 
heroism  of  a  noble  father. 

It  may  be  said  at  once  that  Wesley's  youthful 
career  was  beyond  reproach,  that  all  the  domestic 
relations  within  his  father's  family  were  entirely 
admirable  and  marked  by  the  strongest  common 


JOHN   WESLEY  289 

sense,  if  we  omit  the  unfortunate  affair  of  his 
sister  Hetty,  of  which  Mr.  Quiller-Couch  has  re- 
cently informed  us  so  fully.  The  father  was  cap- 
able of  the  highest  sacrifice,  the  mother  appears 
to  us  as  a  woman  of  soundest  judgement ;  and 
we  need  not  make  too  much  of  the  complaint  in 
a  letter  to  her  son :  "  It  is  an  unhappiness  almost 
peculiar  to  our  family  that  your  father  and  I  sel- 
dom think  alike."  Even  his  sister  Emilia  revealed 
the  family  trait  of  good  sense  in  a  manner  that 
was  marvellous  in  one  so  young,  when  she  wrote 
to  her  brother:  "Never  engage  your  affections 
before  your  worldly  affairs  are  in  such  a  posture 
that  you  can  marry."  If  all  young  persons  were 
but  to  apprehend  the  soundness  of  that  advice, 
they  would  save  themselves  and  others  from  much 
misery. 

Sanity  of  conduct  and  reasonableness  of  be- 
haviour are  the  great  characteristics  of  Wesley's 
career;  that  is  to  say,  his  actions  were  always 
those  of  a  gentleman ;  and  those  who  are  now 
called  by  his  name  will  probably  take  an  undue 
interest  in  the  fact  that  he  was  a  gentleman  in 
other  senses  as  well.  His  family  was  bound  up 
with  the  De  Wellesleys,  and  they  had  a  seat  at 
Welsme  in  Somerset  from  time  immemorial,  cer- 
tainly since  the  time  of  Athelstan,  and  that  is 


290  ESSAYS  IN  PURITANISM 

long  enough.  This  quality  of  urbanity  comes  out 
in  every  page  of  his  journal,  giving  offence  or 
disrespect  to  none,  and  insisting  upon  the  respect 
that  was  due  to  himself. 

Wesley  illustrates  this  quality  well  in  his 
famous  interview  with  Beau  Nash.  The  position 
accorded  to  that  notorious  man  reveals  to  us  the 
qualities  which  were  considered  admirable  in 
those  days.  This  son  of  a  glass-maker,  as  poor  in 
means  as  in  birth,  by  sheer  effrontery  raised  him- 
self to  the  eminence  of  a  king.  To-day  he  would 
not  be  tolerated  in  London  by  the  police,  and  even 
in  New  York  he  would  figure,  in  the  daily  press  for 
one  week,  in  the  district  magistrate's  court  for 
one  day,  and  thereafter  would  be  heard  of  no  more 
for  at  least  five  years,  unless  his  sentence  were 
reduced  by  conduct  which  is  officially  called  good. 

Wesley  was  entreated  not  to  preach  in  the  pre- 
sence of  that  ruffian,  "  because  no  one  knew  what 
might  happen."  However,  he  did  preach,  and 
pretty  plainly  too.  He  told  his  hearers,  "they 
were  all  under  sin,  high  and  low,  rich  and  poor, 
and  many  seemed  to  be  a  little  surprised."  Beau 
Nash,  however,  overcame  his  surprise  at  this  in- 
civility, and  coming  close  to  the  preacher,  en- 
quired by  what  authority  he  said  those  things. 

"  By  the  authority  of  Jesus  Christ,  conveyed  to 


JOHN  WESLEY  291 

me  by  the  now  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  when 
he  laid  hands  upon  me  and  said :  '  Take  thou 
authority  to  preach  the  gospel.'  " 

"  This  is  contrary  to  Act  of  Parliament ;  this 
is  a  conventicle." 

"  Sir,  the  conventicles  mentioned  in  that  Act 
are  seditious  meetings,  but  this  is  not  such ;  here 
is  no  shadow  of  sedition." 

"  I  say  it  is,  and  besides,  your  preaching 
frightens  people  out  of  their  wits." 

"  Sir,  did  you  ever  hear  me  preach  ?  " 

"No." 

"  How,  then,  can  you  judge  of  what  you  never 
heard?" 

"  Sir,  by  common  report." 

"  Common  report  is  not  enough.  Give  me 
leave,  sir,  to  ask,  is  not  your  name  Nash?" 

"  My  name  is  Nash." 

"  Sir,  I  dare  not  judge  you  by  common  report." 

"  I  desire  to  know  what  this  people  comes  here 
for?" 

"  You,  Mr.  Nash,  take  care  of  your  body ;  we 
take  care  of  our  souls,  and  for  the  good  of  our 
souls  we  come  here,"  a  listener  broke  in  ;  where- 
upon Mr.  Nash  replied  not  a  word,  and  walked 
away. 

Some   Methodists   may  also  be  interested  to 


292  ESSAYS   IN   PURITANISM 

know  that  the  founder  of  their  church  always  en- 
joyed a  certain  social  distinction.  He  was  enter- 
tained by  admirals ;  his  portrait  was  painted  by 
Reynolds  and  Romney ;  toward  the  end  of  his 
life  he  had  more  invitations  to  preach  in  churches 
than  he  could  accept ;  he  became  "  an  honourable 
man,  and  scarce  any  but  Antinomians  durst 
open  their  mouths  "  against  him.  Of  eighty  let- 
ters written  by  him  in  one  year,  nearly  half  are 
addressed  to  titled  ladies  ;  which  shows  that  titled 
ladies  in  those  days  were  pretty  much  the  same 
as  they  are  now. 

It  would  be  long  to  trace  all  the  influences  that 
made  for  Wesley's  opportunity,  influences  affect- 
ing himself  and  the  community  at  large.  The 
world  is  never  left  without  witnesses  to  the  truth, 
though  their  voice  may  be  small  and  its  crying 
only  in  the  wilderness.  The  voice  of  Bunyan  was 
unheeded  for  a  generation,  and  two  small  books 
lay  unnoticed  till  suddenly  their  spirit  blazed  up 
in  Wesley's  time.  These  were  the  "  Serious  Call," 
and  "Christian  Perfection."  In  them  Law  pro- 
claimed the  necessity  for  a  change  of  nature,  self- 
denial,  and  a  life  of  devotion  for  all  who  would 
serve  God  truly.  This  spirit  was  working  quietly 
in  Oxford  even  in  the  time  of  Samuel  Johnson, 
who  freely  acknowledged  its  influence  upon  him- 


JOHN   WESLEY  293 

self,  though  it  must  be  confessed  that  the  out- 
ward manifestations  in  his  case  were  not  great. 

William  Law,  the  author  of  these  books,  having 
declined  to  take  the  oath  prescribed  at  the  acces- 
sion of  George  the  First,  lost  his  fellowship  in 
Emmanuel  College ;  and  he  also  left  the  Church 
to  become  tutor  to  Edward  Gibbon,  the  father  of 
the  historian ;  but  he  had  created  an  atmosphere 
congenial  to  the  serious  men  who  came  after  him. 

The  movement  was  the  exact  counterpart  of 
that  which  took  place  in  Oxford  a  hundred  years 
later.  There  was  the  same  tendency  to  asceticism, 
to  a  patristic  interpretation  of  the  Scripture,  and 
a  slavish  following  of  the  rubric.  Those  who  were 
under  its  influence  fasted  and  prayed;  they 
strove  against  fanciful  sins  and  practised  self- 
denial  for  the  sake  of  practising  it.  The  Tracta- 
rian  manifestation,  as  in  the  case  of  Methodism, 
was  dominated  by  a  single  mind  ;  both  began  in 
a  small  way,  and  remained  so  whilst  they  were 
confined  to  their  purely  local  environment.  But 
to  the  more  modern  men  religion  always  appeared 
as  an  aesthetic  exercise ;  to  Wesley  it  was  a  power 
for  the  amendment  of  the  individual  life,  without 
which  that  life  could  not  be  amended. 

So  long  as  Wesley  remained  in  the  Church, 
bound  by  her  traditions  and  her  rigid  rubric,  he 


294  ESSAYS  IN  PURITANISM 

was  powerless  to  do  very  mucli ;  but  the  Church 
saw  to  it  that  he  did  not  remain  there  long.  "  Our 
minister,"  so  runs  one  of  the  many  communica- 
tions which  he  received,  "  having  been  informed 
you  are  beside  yourself,  does  not  care  you  should 
preach  in  any  of  his  churches." 

When  Wesley  began  his  career  at  Oxford,  he 
had  no  idea  where  it  would  end.  He  had  been 
curate  in  his  father's  parish,  and  returning  to  his 
college,  he  joined  with  his  brother  and  a  few 
companions  who  were  in  the  habit  of  partaking 
weekly  of  the  communion  —  certainly  not  a  re- 
markable manifestation  of  evangelicism.  From 
this  exercise  they  passed  on  to  the  study  of  the 
Greek  Testament  and  to  private  devotion,  and 
from  that  to  the  visitation  of  the  poor,  the  sick, 
and  prisoners.  It  is  a  curious  commentary  upon 
the  times  that  such  ordinary  avocations  should 
have  excited  any  notice  whatever. 

This  little  band  had  no  cohesion ;  they  had  no 
plan  of  campaign,  and  each  individual  was  to 
proceed  upon  his  own  lines.  The  Wesleys  alone 
arrived  at  a  lasting  distinction.  Whitefield  con- 
sumed his  life  in  the  fervour  of  popular  preach- 
ing, voyaging  here  and  there  —  to  Georgia,  to 
New  England,  to  Scotland  and  Wales  —  raising 
a  wave  of  emotion  everywhere,  but  doing  nothing 


JOHN  WESLEY  295 

toward  its  advancement.  Impulsive,  but  lacking 
logical  skill  and  self-restraint;  gifted  with  ora- 
torical power,  dramatic  force,  and  pathos,  he  was 
able  to  move  the  people,  so  that  "  the  tears  made 
white  gutters  down  their  black  cheeks;"  but 
Wesley  was  at  hand  to  direct  the  forces  which 
Whitefield  had  evoked.  John  Clayton,  another 
of  the  coterie,  settled  in  Manchester  and  remained 
a  Jacobite  and  high-churchman  to  the  end  of  his 
days.  Benjamin  Ingham  became  an  out-and-out 
dissenter,  which  Wesley  never  did.  Gambold 
became  a  Moravian  Bishop,  and  James  Hervey 
was  seized  with  the  tenets  of  Calvinism. 

About  this  time,  the  rising  conscience  of  the 
people  took  notice  of  the  condition  of  those  who 
were  imprisoned  for  debt  and  bearing  the  penalty 
due  to  felons  alone.  It  was  proposed  as  a  rem- 
edy to  send  them  to  the  New  World,  where  they 
might  better  their  own  condition  and  improve 
the  country  which  they  were  made  to  adopt.  The 
promoters  laboured  under  the  curious  fallacy  that 
intellectual  belief  has  something  to  do  with  con- 
duct, and  they  had  as  an  arriere  pensee  that  the 
Choctaws,  the  Chickasaws,  the  Cherokees,  and 
the  Creeks,  who  inhabited  the  borders  of  Georgia, 
might  be  improved  by  a  commerce  with  those 
apostles  from  the  English  prisons. 


296  ESSAYS  IN  PURITANISM 

It  would  appear  that  Wesley  himself  had  an 
exaggerated  notion  of  the  ripeness  of  the  Indians 
for  instruction  on  account  of  their  freedom  from 
preconceptions.  He  argued  that  they  were  fit  to 
receive  the  gospel  in  its  simplicity,  because  they 
were  "  as  little  children,  humble,  willing  to  learn, 
and  eager  to  do  the  will  of  God."  To  him  the 
Indian  mind  was  virgin  soil;  "they  have  no 
comments  to  construe  away  the  text,  no  vain 
philosophy  to  corrupt  it ;  no  luxurious,  sensual, 
covetous,  ambitious  expounders,  to  soften  its  un- 
pleasing  truths."  But  these  erroneous  views  arose 
out  of  the  sentimentality  of  the  times.  Coloniza- 
tion was  looked  upon  as  the  sovereign  remedy  for 
disposing  of  the  heathen  at  home,  and  for  correct- 
ing the  errors  of  the  heathen  in  the  places  to  which 
these  missionaries  were  to  be  sent.  It  is  difficult 
to  see  what  good  was  to  accrue  to  the  savages,  for 
they  were  commonly  held  to  be  already  the  pos- 
sessors of  all  manly  qualities  and  all  domestic 
virtues. 

It  was  in  this  frame  of  mind  that  Wesley  went 
to  Georgia,  to  convert  the  Indians,  as  if  there 
were  not  work  enough  in  his  native  land ;  but  it 
did  not  take  any  considerable  enquiry  to  convince 
him  that  he  "  could  not  find  or  hear  of  any  In- 
dians on  the  continent  of  America,  who  had  the 


JOHN  WESLEY  297 

least  desire  of  being  instructed."  He  at  once 
consulted  with  his  friends  as  to  whether  God  did 
not  call  him  back  to  England ;  and  upon  the  way 
home  he  arrived  at  the  valuable  conclusion  "  that 
he  who  would  convert  others  must  first  be  con- 
verted himself." 

The  immediate  circumstances  which  led  to 
Wesley's  return  from  America  are  singular,  when 
considered  in  relation  with  the  after  events  of 
his  life.  His  mission  of  course  was  bound  to  be 
a  failure  ;  all  missions  are  which  are  conducted  in 
the  spirit  of  a  priest,  and  the  spirit  of  Wesley 
was,  as  yet,  as  priestly  as  any  which  ever  eman- 
ated from  Oxford.  The  colony  also  was  a  fail- 
ure, as  all  bodily  transportations  always  have 
been.  Men  do  not  change  their  natures  by  chang- 
ing their  sky,  and  those  who  were  fit  for  a  prison 
in  England  were  probably  more  competent  still 
after  their  long  comfortless  journey  across  the 
sea. 

Wesley  was  in  trouble  from  the  beginning  ;  his 
spirit  was  intolerant,  his  parishioners  were  corrupt 
and  headstrong,  and  before  long  the  breach  came. 
He  thought  he  observed  "  something  reprovable 
in  the  behaviour  "  of  one  Mrs.  Williamson,  and  he 
told  her  so ;  "  whereupon  she  appeared  extremely 
angry,  and   at   the  turn  of   the  street  through 


298  ESSAYS   IN   PURITANISM 

which  they  were  walking  home,  went  abruptly 
away."  The  young  curate  repelled  her  from  the 
communion  table,  and  the  following  morning  her 
husband  had  him  arrested  for  defamation,  and 
claimed  a  thousand  pounds  damage.  Wesley, 
like  a  true  cleric,  took  his  stand  that  the  young 
woman  had  not  some  time  the  day  before  signi- 
fied her  intention  of  communing ;  and  he  weak- 
ened his  position  by  quoting  the  authority  given 
to  all  curates  "to  advertise  any  who  had  done 
wrong."  He  does  not  specify  his  objections  in 
this  particular  case ;  but  we  have  the  other  side 
of  the  story  at  any  rate,  for  on  the  next  day  Mrs. 
Williamson  swore  to  and  signed  an  affidavit  that 
Mr.  Wesley  had  many  times  proposed  marriage  to 
her,  and  that  she  had  rejected  his  advances  in 
favour  of  Mr.  Williamson's. 

Another  law-suit  arose  out  of  this,  and  certainly 
Wesley  was  reprimanded  in  the  court  for  calling 
the  lady's  uncle  a  liar  and  a  villain,  although, 
according  to  all  accounts,  his  statements  were  well 
within  the  truth.  He  was  required  to  give  bail 
to  answer  to  the  suits,  and  upon  refusing  he  was 
put  "on  the  limits."  It  was  at  this  propitious 
moment  that  he  consulted  with  his  friends,  in 
a  purely  impersonal  way,  "  as  to  whether  God  did 
not  call  him  to  return  to  England."  They  agreed, 


JOHN   WESLEY  299 

and  Wesley  himself  "  saw  clearly  the  hour  was 
come  for  leaving  that  place ;  "  so,  bail  or  no  bail, 
about  eight  o'clock  at  night  he  shook  the  dust 
of  Georgia  off  his  feet  and  disappeared  along 
with  three  companions,  whose  identity  does  not 
interest  us. 

Like  many  other  levanters,  they  did  not  find 
the  way  an  easy  one.  They  were  lost  in  the 
woods ;  they  waded  streams  and  struggled  in 
swamps ;  they  suffered  from  hunger  and  thirst, 
and  the  sharpness  of  the  cold,  lying  abroad  in 
the  wet  and  frost ;  yet  they  commended  them- 
selves to  God,  and  He  renewed  their  strength. 
Finally  they  arrived  in  Charleston,  and  after 
"a  thorough  storm"  and  a  "proper  hurricane," 
followed  by  a  "  small  fair  wind,"  Wesley  arrived 
safely  in  England  once  more. 

Shortly  after  his  return  to  England,  Wesley 
fell  in  with  Peter  Bohler  on  "  a  day  much  to  be 
remembered."  This  evangelist  from  the  Moravian 
Brethren  afterwards  became  instrumental  in  his 
conversion.  That  is  Wesley's  own  account, 
though  other  claimants  arose,  amongst  them  the 
friends  of  Jonathan  Edwards,  who  held  that 
the  austere  New  England  divine  was  responsible 
for  the  change.  His  journal  contains  an  exact 
account  of  the  event.  "  In  the  evening,"  it  reads, 


300  ESSAYS  IN  PURITANISM 

"  I  went  very  unwillingly  to  a  society  in  Alders- 
gate  Street,  where  one  was  reading  Luther's 
preface  to  the  Epistle  to  the  Komans.  About 
a  quarter  before  nine,  while  he  was  describing  the 
change  which  God  works  in  the  heart  through 
faith  in  Christ,  I  felt  my  heart  strangely  warmed. 
I  felt  I  did  trust  in  Christ,  Christ  alone,  for  sal- 
vation ;  and  an  assurance  was  given  me  that  He 
had  taken  away  my  sins,  even  mine,  and  saved 
me  from  the  law  of  sin  and  death." 

This  was  in  1738,  and  Wesley's  work  had 
begun.  He  further  qualified  himself  by  a  pil- 
grimage and  residence  of  three  months  in  Ger- 
many amongst  the  Moravian  Brethren,  who  had 
much  in  common  with  Methodism  as  we  know  it 
to-day.  This  sect  still  constitutes  a  society  de- 
voted to  good  works  within  the  German  Protest- 
ant Church,  and  so  far  as  one  can  judge,  it  is  the 
possessor  of  a  most  Christian  form  of  doctrine, 
as  one  would  expect  from  the  lineal  descendants 
of  John  Huss.  The  body  of  doctrine  which  now 
bears  the  name  of  Wesley  was  in  reality  trans- 
ported from  the  Moravians,  and  a  new  force 
given  to  their  tenets :  that  Scripture  is  the  only 
rule  of  faith  and  practice ;  that  human  nature  is 
totally  depraved  ;  that  the  law  of  God  the  Father 
is  supreme ;  that  the  Godhead  of  Christ  is  as 


JOHN   WESLEY  301 

real  as  His  humanity ;  that  reconciliation  and 
justification  come  through  His  sacrifice  by  the 
operation  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  The  insistence 
upon  good  works,  the  fellowship  of  believers  with 
each  other  and  in  Christ,  the  belief  in  the  second 
coming,  and  the  resurrection  of  the  dead  unto 
life  or  unto  condemnation,  complete  the  identity 
of  the  two  systems. 

Wesley  was  resolute  not  to  go  outside  the 
Church.  His  aim  was  to  found  a  society  of  seri- 
ous people  within  the  Church,  as  an  ecclesiola 
in  ecdesia,  after  the  Moravian  pattern.  As  late 
as  1756  a  conference  was  closed  with  a  solemn 
declaration  never  to  separate  from  the  Church, 
and  "  all  the  brethren  concurred  therein."  He  was 
continually  warning  people  against  the  ''  madness 
of  leaving  the  Church."  On  one  occasion  he  went 
so  far  as  to  threaten  a  society,  that  if  they  left 
the  Church  they  would  see  his  face  no  more.  The 
question  came  up  formally  again  at  a  conference 
in  1788,  when  Wesley  was  85  years  old,  and  the 
sum  of  the  deliberation  was,  that  in  fifty  years 
they  had  not  varied  from  the  Church  in  one  arti- 
cle of  doctrine  or  discipline.  If  the  Church  of 
England  had  enlarged  itself  to  allow  free  play  for 
this  new  spirit,  it  would  be  to-day,  not  the  Church 
of  England  alone,   but  the  church   of  all   who 


302  ESSAYS   IN  PURITANISM 

dissent  from  the  doctrine  or  practice  of  Rome. 
Wesley  was  a  churchman  to  the  last,  and  always 
adopted  the  churchman's  view,  as  in  his  descrip- 
tion of  the  people  of  the  Isle  of  Man,  wherein  he 
says :  "  A  more  loving,  simple-hearted  people  than 
the  Manxmen  I  never  saw,  and  no  wonder,  for 
they  have  but  six  Papists  and  no  Dissenters  or 
Calvinists  in  the  island."  But  he  was  driven  out 
of  the  Church  —  at  least  out  of  the  churches 
—  he  had  loved  so  well,  the  Church  his  father  and 
grandfather  had  served  faithfully,  as  well  as  many 
other  ancestors,  during  at  least  two  centuries. 

Wesley  did  not  take  to  field  preaching  as  a 
matter  of  choice  ;  "  he  sympathized  with  the  Devil 
in  his  dislike  of  it ;  for  he  loved  a  commodious 
room,  a  soft  cushion,  and  a  handsome  pulpit." 
To  the  end  of  his  life  it  was  a  cross  to  him ;  but 
he  knew  his  commission  and  saw  no  other  way  of 
preaching  the  gospel  to  every  creature.  But  as  he 
had  no  intention  of  holding  his  peace,  and  as  the 
churches  were  closed  against  him,  he  followed 
the  sensible  procedure,  for  a  preacher,  of  going 
where  the  people  were  ready  to  be  preached  to,  in 
the  streets  and  fields.  It  was  a  hard  matter,  but  it 
was  not  of  his  choosing.  "  I  could  scarce  reconcile 
myself  at  first  to  this  strange  way  of  preaching 
in  the  fields,  having  been  all  my  life  so  tenacious 


JOHN  WESLEY  303 

of  decency  and  order  that  I  should  have  thought 
the  savins:  of  souls  almost  a  sin  if  it  had  not  been 
done  in  a  church." 

Three  successive  entries  in  the  Journal  read : 
"  I  preached  at  St.  Lawrence  in  the  morning,  and 
afterwards  at  St.  Katherine  Cree's  Church.  I  was 
enabled  to  speak  strong  words  at  both,  and  was, 
therefore,  the  less  surprised  at  being  informed 
I  was  not  to  preach  any  more  in  these  churches." 
"  I  preached  in  the  morning  at  St.  Ann's  Alders- 
gate,  and  in  the  afternoon  at  the  Savoy  Chapel : 
upon  free  salvation.  I  was  quickly  apprised  that 
at  St.  Ann's  likewise  I  am  to  preach  no  more." 
"  I  preached  at  St.  John's  Wapping,  at  three,  and 
at  St.  Bennet's,  Paul's  Wharf,  in  the  evening. 
At  these  churches  likewise  I  am  to  preach  no  more." 

However,  he  came  to  it,  and  began  near  Bris- 
tol by  expounding  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount, 
which,  he  observes  in  his  Journal,  "  was  one 
pretty  remarkable  precedent  for  field  preaching, 
though  I  suppose  there  were  churches  at  that 
time  also."  The  next  day  he  "  submitted  to  being 
more  vile,  and  proclaimed  in  the  highways  the 
glad  tidings  of  salvation  to  about  three  thousand 
people."  The  following  Sunday,  he  preached  to 
a  thousand  persons  in  Bristol  at  seven  o'clock  in 
the  morning,  afterwards  to  fifteen  hundred  on  the 


304  ESSAYS  IN  PURITANISM 

top  of  Hannam  Mount  in  Kingswood,  and  still 
again  to  five  thousand  in  the  afternoon.  He  went 
to  Bath,  and  was  not  even  "  suffered  to  be  in  the 
meadow  where  he  was  before,  though  this  occa- 
sioned the  offer  of  a  more  convenient  place,  where 
he  preached  Christ  to  about  a  thousand  souls." 
It  was  upon  this  occasion  that  Wesley  had  his 
famous  interview  with  Beau  Nash. 

The  world  was  now  his  parish,  and  he  com- 
menced a  systematic  ministration,  preaching  free 
salvation  to  the  condemned  felons  in  Newgate ;  to 
a  society  in  Bear  Yard,  remission  of  sins ;  to  a 
meeting  in  Aldersgate  Street,  the  truth  in  love ; 
and  the  efficacy  of  prayer  in  the  city  prison  of 
Oxford.  At  Blackheath  he  preached  to  twelve 
thousand  people,  in  Upper  Moorfields  to  seven 
thousand,  and  upon  the  same  day  to  fifteen  thou- 
sand more  at  Kennington  Common.  Next  day  he 
was  off  to  Bristol,  and  "  as  I  was  riding  to  Rose 
Green,"  we  read,  "  in  a  smooth,  plain  part  of  the 
road,  my  horse  suddenly  pitched  upon  his  head 
and  rolled  over  and  over.  I  received  no  other 
hurt  than  a  bruise  on  one  side,  which  for  the  pre- 
sent I  felt  not,  but  preached  without  pain  to  six 
or  seven  thousand  people,  on  that  important  di- 
rection :  '  Whether  ye  eat  or  drink,  or  whatsoever 
you  do,  do  all  to  the  glory  of  God.'  " 


JOHN   WESLEY  305 

The  bodily  manifestations  of  mental  disturb- 
ance, which  appeared  in  the  course  of  the  preach- 
ing, have  been  a  feature  of  all  revivals  in  every 
country.  Jonathan  Edwards  witnessed  them  in 
America ;  the  Disciples  observed  them  in  Judaea. 
The  explanation  of  the  phenomenon  is  as  simple 
as  the  explanation  of  hysteria.  The  will,  which 
ordinarily  controls  the  body,  becomes  dominated 
by  emotion,  and  the  body  is  left  to  be  swayed  by 
the  new  force.  Self-control,  or  control  by  the  will, 
is  an  admirable  thing,  but  it  is  not  the  greatest 
thing  in  the  world.  Evil  emotions  or  good  emo- 
tions may  at  times  gain  control  of  the  body,  and 
the  idea  has  long  ago  been  abandoned  that  it  was 
an  evil  spirit  that  gained  control  of  men's  wills 
during  revivals.  If  the  body  be  deliberately 
handed  over  to  the  emotions,  an  abnormal  situa- 
tion is  created,  and  that  is  ever  the  danger  in  the 
surrender  of  the  will. 

Wesley  believed  that  Whitefield's  objections  to 
these  manifestations  "  were  chiefly  grounded  on 
gross  misrepresentations  of  matter  of  fact,"  but 
presently  he  had  occasion  to  inform  himself ;  "  for 
no  sooner  had  he  begun  to  invite  all  sinners  to 
believe  in  Christ  than  four  persons  sank  down 
close  to  him,  almost  in  the  same  moment ;  one 
lay  without  sense  or  motion,  a  second  trembled 


306  ESSAYS  IN  PURITANISM 

exceedingly,  the  third  had  strong  convulsions  all 
over  his  body,  but  made  no  noise  unless  by  groans, 
and  the  fourth,  who  was  equally  convulsed,  called 
upon  God  with  strong  cries  and  tears."  As  his 
ministry  progressed,  these  violent  manifestations 
disappeared ;  "  none  were  now  in  trances,  none 
cried  out,  none  fell  down  or  were  convulsed ;  only 
some  trembled,  a  low  murmur  was  heard,  and 
many  were  refreshed  with  the  abundance  of 
peace."  Wesley  saw  as  clearly  as  we  do  that  there 
were  two  dangers :  to  regard  these  things  as  if 
they  were  essential  to  the  inward  work ;  and  to 
condemn  them  altogether. 

About  this  time  Wesley  was  in  some  trepidation 
because  the  powers  of  evil  were  so  complacent, 
but  very  soon  he  was  freed  from  any  anxiety  on 
that  score.  It  was  at  Bristol  that  he  had  the 
first  of  his  long,  varied  experience  at  the  hands 
of  the  mob  ;  "  all  the  street  was  filled  with  people, 
shouting,  cursing  and  swearing,  and  ready  to 
swallow  the  ground  with  fierceness  and  rage." 
Some  of  the  ringleaders  were  arrested,  but  they 
began  to  excuse  themselves  before  the  mayor 
by  laying  charges  against  the  preacher.  The 
magistrate  made  the  sensible  answer :  "  What 
Mr.  Wesley  is,  is  nothing  to  you;  I  will  keep 
the  peace  ;  I  will  have  no  rioting  in  this  city."    In 


JOHN   WESLEY  307 

the  same  place,  a  young  man  rushed  into  the 
meeting,  "  cursing  and  swearing  vehemently  ;  " 
but  before  he  left,  "  he  was  observed  to  have  the 
Lord  for  his  God." 

The  Journal  is  full  of  the  roug-h  humour  of 
a  semi-civilized  people.  In  London,  the  rabble 
drove  an  ox  into  the  assemblage,  which  was  listen- 
ing to  a  discourse  upon  doing  justly,  loving  mercy, 
and  walking  humbly.  At  Pensford  they  had 
baited  a  bull  with  dogs,  and  by  main  strength 
partly  dragged  and  partly  thrust  him  against  the 
table ;  but  Wesley  was  unmoved,  and,  as  the  Jour- 
nal says,  "  once  or  twice  put  aside  his  head  with 
my  hand,  that  the  blood  might  not  drop  upon  my 
clothes,  intending  to  go  on  as  soon  as  the  hurry 
should  be  a  little  over."  One  of  the  converts 
"became  exceedingly  angry  because  those  base 
people  would  fain  have  interrupted,  but  she  was 
quickly  rebuked  by  a  stone  which  lit  upon  her 
forehead ;  in  that  moment  her  ano-er  was  at  an 
end  and  love  only  filled  her  heart."  Wesley  gives 
but  an  ill  account  of  Newcastle.  "  I  was  sur- 
prised," he  says ;  "  so  much  drunkenness,  cursing 
and  swearing,  even  from  the  mouths  of  little 
children,  do  I  never  remember  to  have  heard 
before  in  so  small  a  compass  of  time." 

The  savagery  to  which   AYesley  was  exposed 


308  ESSAYS  IN   PURITANISM 

is  almost  incredible.  He  was  stoned  ;  he  was  seized 
by  a  press-gang ;  he  was  caught  by  the  hair  and 
struck  in  the  face;  the  buildings  in  which  he 
preached  were  torn  to  pieces  and  set  on  fire.  On 
one  occasion  he  was  attacked  on  a  bridge,  and  it 
came  into  his  mind,  "if  they  throw  me  in  the 
river,  it  will  spoil  the  papers  which  are  in  my 
pocket ;  "  but  he  did  not  doubt  that  he  could 
swim,  as  he  had  on  a  thin  coat  and  a  light  pair 
of  boots.  No  wonder  he  was  brought  to  exclaim, 
"  O,  who  will  convert  these  English  into  honest 
heathens ! " 

This  man  now  began  to  be  talked  about,  and 
well  he  might,  for  he  was  turning  the  English 
world  upside  down.  He  was  interesting  hundreds 
of  thousands  of  people  in  the  serious  matter  of 
their  own  sinfulness,  and,  if  he  did  not  insist  as 
strongly  as  he  might  upon  the  necessary  punish- 
ment of  it,  he  certainly  made  it  very  clear  how 
they  might  amend  their  ways. 

Amongst  the  numerous  crimes  laid  to  Wesley's 
account  was  a  conviction  for  selling  gin ;  that  he 
was  receiving  large  remittances  from  Spain  in 
order  to  make  a  party  amongst  the  poor ;  that  as 
soon  as  the  Spaniards  landed  he  would  join  with 
twenty  thousand  followers ;  and  that  he  kept  two 
"  Papist  priests  "  in  his  house.    One,  who  claimed 


JOHN   WESLEY  309 

that  he  was  an  eye-witness,  testified  that  Wesley 
had  hanged  himself,  and  that  only  the  breaking  of 
the  rope  prevented  the  fatal  issue  ;  another,  in  con- 
versation with  a  Jesuit,  asserted  that  Wesley  was 
one  of  them  ;  upon  which  the  Jesuit,  with  all  the 
perspicacity  of  his  race,  uttered  the  devout  wish : 
"  I  would  to  God  he  were."  From  one  pulpit  it 
was  preached  that  John  Wesley  had  been  expelled 
from  his  college,  and  even  the  character  of  his 
mother  was  attacked ;  the  nastiest  calumnies  were 
uttered  against  those  who  attended  the  meetings 
by  night ;  but  within  a  year,  "  one  minister,  who 
was  very  forward,  grew  thoughtful,  and  shortly 
afterwards  went  into  his  own  necessary  house, 
and  there  hanged  himself." 

This  mother  of  Wesley  is  the  last  person  in  the 
world,  one  would  think,  whose  conduct  was  open 
to  censure,  judging  from  the  manner  in  which  she 
conducted  herself  toward  her  husband  and  her 
children.  We  are  at  no  loss  for  exact  informa- 
tion as  to  the  conditions  under  which  they  were 
brought  up,  for  she  has  set  down  at  some  length 
her  method  of  procedure  in  educating  her 
numerous  family.  She  first  lays  down  her  prac- 
tice for  their  securing  a  regular  course  of  sleeping, 
and  when  they  were  turned  a  year  old,  "  they 
were  taught  to  fear  the  Lord  and  to  cry  softly,  by 


310  ESSAYS  IN  PURITANISM 

which  they  escaped  the  abundance  of  correction 
they  might  otherwise  have  had ;  and  that  most 
odious  noise,  the  crying  of  children,  was  rarely 
heard  in  the  house."  At  dinner  they  were  suffered 
to  eat,  and  drink  small  beer,  as  much  as  they 
would,  but  not  to  call  for  anything ;  drinking  or 
eating  between  meals  was  never  allowed,  nor  was 
it  suffered  to  go  into  the  kitchen  to  ask  for  any- 
thing of  the  servants.  After  family  prayers  they 
had  their  supper.  At  seven  the  maid  washed 
them,  and  beginning  at  the  youngest  she  undressed 
them,  and  got  all  to  bed  by  eight ;  "  there  was  no 
such  thing  allowed  in  the  house  as  sitting  by 
a  child  till  it  fell  asleep." 

In  order  to  form  the  minds  of  children,  Mrs. 
Wesley  writes  in  a  general  way,  the  first  thing  to 
be  done  is  to  conquer  their  will,  and  bring  them 
to  an  obedient  temper ;  for  the  subjecting  of  the 
will  is  a  thing  that  must  be  done  at  once,  and 
the  sooner  the  better  ;  for,  by  neglecting  a  timely 
correction,  they  will  contract  stubbornness  and 
obstinacy,  which  is  hardly  ever  after  conquered. 
Whenever  a  child  is  corrected,  we  are  assured,  it 
must  be  conquered ;  and  when  the  will  of  a  child 
is  totally  subdued,  and  it  is  brought  to  revere  and 
stand  in  awe  of  its  parents,  then  a  great  many 
childish  follies  may  be  passed  by.    Self-will,  she 


JOHN  WESLEY  311 

protests,  is  the  root  of  all  sin  and  misery;  so, 
whoever  cherishes  this  in  children  ensures  their 
after-wretchedness.  The  children  were  quickly- 
made  to  understand  that  they  might  have  nothing 
they  cried  for,  and  they  were  instructed  to  speak 
handsomely  for  what  they  wanted.  So,  we  may 
well  believe,  "  that  taking  God's  name  in  vain, 
cursing  and  swearing,  profaneness,  rude,  ill-bred 
names  were  never  heard  among  them." 

Her  way  of  teaching  was  this  :  One  day  she 
allowed  to  a  child  wherein  to  learn  his  letters; 
then  he  began  at  the  first  chapter  of  Genesis,  and 
was  taught  to  spell  the  first  verse ;  then  he  read 
it  over  and  over,  till  he  took  ten  verses,  which  he 
quickly  did.  It  is  almost  incredible,  she  says, 
what  a  child  may  be  taught  in  a  quarter  of  a 
year  if  he  have  good  health.  In  addition  to  this 
general  system,  the  mother  had  certain  specific 
rules,  which  probably  were  carried  out  to  the 
letter.  "  Whoever  was  charged  with  a  fault  of 
which  they  were  guilty,  if  they  would  ingenu- 
ously confess  it  and  promise  to  amend,  should 
not  be  beaten  ; "  —  this  rule  she  was  sure  pre- 
vented a  great  deal  of  lying ;  —  that  no  sinful 
action,  as  lying,  pilfering,  playing  on  the  Lord's 
Day,  or  disobedience,  should  ever  pass  unpun- 
ished ;  that  no  child  should  ever  be  chid  or  beat 


312  ESSAYS  IN  PURITANISM 

twice  for  the  same  fault ;  that  every  single  act  of 
obedience  should  be  always  commended  and  fre- 
quently rewarded,  according  to  the  merits  of  the 
cause ;  that  the  properties  should  be  inviolably 
preserved,  and  none  suffered  to  invade  the  pro- 
perty of  another  in  the  smallest  matter;  that 
promises  be  strictly  observed ;  that  no  girl  be 
taught  to  work  till  she  can  read  very  well.  This 
is  the  very  reason,  she  discovered,  why  so  few 
women  can  read  fit  to  be  heard,  and  never  to  be 
well  understood. 

Wesley  himself  had  some  very  definite  ideas 
upon  the  education  of  girls,  and  he  was  firmly  of 
the  opinion  that  if  parents  had  the  desire  to  send 
their  daughters  "headlong  to  hell,"  they  could 
not  do  better  than  send  them  to  a  fashionable 
boarding-school.  He  had  seen  girls  acquire 
pride,  vanity,  and  affectation  in  these  institutions 
of  learning ;  and  others  since  his  time  have  made 
the  same  observation. 

Wesley's  own  marriage  was  not  a  success,  at 
least  in  so  far  as  success  in  that  relation  is  com- 
monly estimated.  An  emotional  man  is  usually 
unhappy  in  his  domestic  life  ;  his  wife  always  is. 
The  popular  evangelist  had  been  in  many  perils 
from  women,  and  his  own  ardent  temperament 
was  continually  forcing  him  into  needless  dan- 


JOHN   WESLEY  313 

gers.  Love  for  the  race  is  apt  to  condense  into 
love  for  the  individual,  but  it  quickly  vaporizes 
again. 

We  have  documentary  evidence  that  he  made 
proposals  to  Mrs.  Williamson  in  Georgia,  when 
she  was  Miss  Hopkey ;  at  least  that  lady  made 
affidavit  that  he  had  ;  but  he  was  a  curate  at  the 
time,  and  his  avowal  must  be  interpreted  in  that 
light.  This  affair  with  Miss  Hopkey  was  serious, 
and  he  was  in  such  sore  distress  about  it  that  he 
had  recourse  to  the  elders  of  the  Moravian  Church 
for  advice.  They  exacted  a  pledge  from  him  that 
he  would  abide  by  their  decision,  and  when  they 
decided  against  the  union,  he  did  so  abide,  con- 
soling himself  with  the  text  —  "  Son  of  man,  be- 
hold I  take  from  thee  the  desire  of  thine  eyes." 
Yet,  fifty  years  afterwards,  when  he  recalled  the 
experience,  he  confessed  that  he  had  been  pierced 
through  as  with  a  sword.  The  thoughts  of  youth 
are  long-lasting. 

The  love  affairs  of  Wesley,  harmless  and 
slight  as  they  were,  are  as  difficult  to  follow  as 
the  amours  of  Horace.  He  was  plotted  against 
and  he  was  planned  for.  He  had  the  usual  affair 
with  a  sister  of  a  college  friend  ;  he  carried  on 
a  long  correspondence  with  a  young  widow,  the 
niece  of  Lord  Lausdowne ;  and  with  a  singular 


314  ESSAYS  IN  PURITANISM 

catholicity  of  taste  he  had  another  series  of  let- 
ters running  to  her  mother,  under  a  fanciful 
name.  But  his  most  notorious  entanglement  was 
with  Grace  Murray,  the  widow  of  a  sailor,  who 
had  sought  relief  from  her  bereavement  in  do- 
mestic service.  Wesley  appears  to  have  behaved 
with  great  good  nature,  and  complacently  allowed 
her  to  transfer  her  affections  to  another  quarter. 
Under  the  ministrations  of  yet  another  woman 
he  came  to  have  serious  doubts  upon  the  sound- 
ness of  his  views  as  set  forth  in  his  "  Thoughts 
on  Marriage."  A  conference  of  the  brethren  was 
ordered,  and  in  a  full  and  friendly  debate  they 
convinced  him  "  that  a  believer  might  marry 
without  suffering  the  loss  of  his  soul."  The  per- 
son who  effected  this  change  of  mind  was  Mrs. 
Vazeille,  "  a  woman  of  sorrowful  spirit,"  and  he 
married  her  after  an  acquaintance  of  fifteen  days. 
If  his  marriage  was  a  mistake,  certainly  he  had 
had  the  benefit  of  advice  from  his  friends ;  his 
brother,  when  he  heard  of  it,  "groaned  all  day 
and  could  eat  no  pleasant  food ;  "  another  parti- 
san leaves  it  on  record  that  "  he  felt  as  though 
he  could  have  knocked  the  soul  out  of  the 
woman  ; "  and  Southey,  who  was  a  writer  with 
a  taste  for  classification,  brackets  Mrs.  Wesley 
in  a  triad  with  the  wives  of  Socrates  and  Job. 


JOHN  WESLEY  315 

Yet  Wesley  did  his  duty  by  the  lady,  at  least 
in  the  way  of  offering  advice.  On  one  occasion 
he  wrote  in  a  spirit  of  remonstrance  :  "  Attempt 
no  more  to  abridge  me  of  my  liberty.  God  has 
used  many  means  to  curb  your  stubborn  will  and 
break  your  temper.  He  has  given  you  a  sickly 
daughter.  He  has  taken  away  one  of  your  sons  ; 
another  has  been  a  grievous  cross,  as  the  third 
probably  will  be  ;  he  has  suffered  you  to  be 
defrauded  of  money,  and  has  chastened  you  with 
strong  pain.  Are  you  more  humble,  more  gentle, 
more  placable  than  you  were?  I  fear  the  re- 
verse." These  are  scarcely  the  words  in  which  to 
inculcate  the  virtues  of  humility,  gentleness,  and 
placability  upon  a  woman  of  high  spirit. 

The  unhappiness  of  the  pair  was  a  matter  of 
public  comment,  and  the  solution  arrived  at  by 
one  pious  follower  was  that  his  sufferings  were 
the  chastisements  of  a  loving  father ;  hers,  the 
immediate  effects  of  an  angry  and  bitter  spirit. 
Wesley  bore  the  chastisement  with  great  resolu- 
tion, and  wrote  to  his  housekeeper,  Mrs.  Ryan, 
who  was  not  exactly  the  most  suitable  confidante, 
as  she  had  at  least  two  husbands  living,  the 
plaintful  words  :  "  I  cannot  say,  '  take  thy  plague 
away  from  me,'  but  only,  *  let  me  be  purified  and 
not  consumed.'  " 


316  ESSAYS  IN  PURITANISM 

With  perfect  truth  it  may  be  affirmed  that  the 
great  Evangelist  bore  the  marks  of  his  wife's 
violence  upon  his  body ;  yet  he  endured  his  trial 
with  patience,  and  consoled  himself  by  reverting 
to  his  original  views  upon  marriage,  and  finding 
further  evidence  in  the  Scripture  that  a  person  in 
his  situation  should  have  remained  single ;  but  he 
afterwards  praised  God  for  the  slight  mercy  that 
he  had  been  enabled  to  remain  unmarried  so  long 
as  he  actually  did.  After  twenty  years  of  married 
life  his  wife  left  him,  purposing  "  never  to  return  ; 
for  what  cause  I  know  not  to  this  day."  Her 
husband  made  an  entry  in  his  diary,  employing 
the  Latin  tongue  to  give  full  force  to  his  thought, 
"  Non  eam  reliqui ;  non  dimisi ;  non  revocabo." 

Into  the  merits  of  the  case  it  is  unnecessary  to 
enter  further,  but  one  cannot  prevent  the  suspi- 
cion that  Wesley's  zeal  in  going  to  and  fro  in  the 
Kingdom,  from  Aberdeen  to  Land's  End,  cross- 
ing  and  re-crossing  the  Irish  Channel  continually, 
may  have  arisen  partly  out  of  his  domestic  rela- 
tions. He  recalls  "  an  odd  circumstance,"  which 
gives  a  deep  insight  into  his  mental  make-up,  and 
suggests  a  psychological  reason  for  his  marital 
unhappiness :  *'  I  never  relish  a  tune  at  first  hear- 
ing, not  till  I  have  almost  learned  to  sing  it ;  but 
as  I  learn  it  more  perfectly,  I  gradually  lose  my 


JOHN  WESLEY  317 

relish  for  it.  It  is  the  same  in  poetry,  yea,  in  all 
the  objects  of  imagination.  I  seldom  relish  verses 
at  first  hearing ;  till  I  have  heard  them  over  and 
over  they  give  me  no  pleasure,  and  then  give  me 
next  to  none  when  I  have  heard  them  a  few- 
times  more,  so  as  to  be  quite  familiar.  Just  as  a 
face  or  a  picture,  which  does  not  strike  me  at  first, 
becomes  more  pleasing  as  I  grow  more  acquainted 
wdth  it,  but  only  to  a  certain  point ;  for  when  I 
am  too  much  acquainted  it  is  no  longer  pleasing." 
It  is  easy  to  appreciate  the  situation  of  a  woman 
in  the  face  of  such  a  disposition  as  that. 

If  Wesley  failed  to  rule  his  domestic  household 
well,  it  cannot  be  laid  to  his  charge  that  he 
neglected  the  discipline  of  his  ecclesiastical  charge. 
He  wrote  to  his  preachers,  lay  and  clerical,  on  all 
possible  subjects ;  he  admonished,  reproved,  and 
remonstrated ;  and  when  these  gentle  measures 
did  not  avail,  he  had  free  recourse  to  expulsion 
from  the  society.  To  Hugh  Sanderson,  one  of 
his  Irish  preachers,  he  writes  with  great  plain- 
ness :  "  Avoid  all  familiarity  with  women ;  you 
cannot  be  too  wary  in  this  respect ;  use  all  dili- 
gence to  be  clean ;  free  yourself  from  lice,  they 
are  a  proof  of  laziness  ;  do  not  cut  off  your  hair, 
but  clean  it  and  keep  it  clean ;  cure  yourself  and 
your  family  of  the  itch  —  a  spoonful  of  brimstone 


318  ESSAYS   IN   PURITANISM 

will  do  it ;  let  not  the  North  be  any  longer  a  pro- 
verb of  reproach  to  all  the  nations."  Wesley- 
went  to  the  facts ;  that  was  his  motto  as  well  as 
Voltaire's. 

He  assembled  his  preachers  together  and  gave 
them  lessons  in  elocution.  Success  in  public 
speaking,  he  told  them,  consists  in  nothing  but  "  a 
natural,  easy,  and  graceful  variation  of  the  voice, 
suitable  to  the  nature  and  importance  of  the  sen- 
timents we  have  to  deliver ;  and  the  first  business 
of  a  speaker  is  to  speak  that  he  may  be  under- 
stood without  babbling  with  his  hands."  He 
divided  his  disciples  into  classes,  and  read  lectures 
to  them  from  Pearson  on  the  Creed,  from  Aid- 
rich's  "  Logic,"  and  "  Rules  for  Action  and  Utter- 


ance." 


But  Wesley's  activity  was  not  wholly  consumed 
in  spiritual  exercises  :  he  assumed  a  large  know- 
ledge of  physical  ailments ;  and  when  a  person 
has  once  got  it  into  his  head  that  he  can  cure  all 
manner  of  bodily  diseases  by  the  simple  device  of 
the  laying  on  of  hands,  or  the  scarcely  more  com- 
plicated procedure  of  prayer,  he  is  apt  to  acquire 
a  deep  disdain  for  those  who  employ  the  slow  and 
uncertain  methods  of  medicine  and  the  painful 
operation  of  the  knife.  It  was  so  with  Wesley. 
He  practised  medicine  on  his  own  account,  and 


JOHN   WESLEY  319 

was  particularly  impressed  by  the  value  of  elec- 
tricity in  the  cure  of  various  diseases  ;  indeed,  he 
held  what  one  might  call  an  outdoor  clinic  every 
day,  "  wherein  any  that  desired  it  might  try  the 
virtue  of  that  surprising  medicine  ;  "  and  he  testi- 
fied that  thousands  had  received  unspeakable 
good.  He  looked  upon  electricity  as  a  thousand 
medicines  in  one,  and  the  most  efficacious  in 
nervous  disorders  which  has  ever  been  discovered. 
Many  parts  of  the  Journal  read  like  an  advertise- 
ment in  the  daily  press  ;  for  example  :  "  After  the 
sermon  in  Brechin,  the  Provost  desired  to  see  us, 
and  said,  '  Sir,  my  son  had  epileptic  fits  from  his 
infancy;  Dr.  Ogilvie  prescribed  for  him  many 
times,  and  at  length  told  me  he  could  do  no  more. 
I  desired  Mr.  Blair  last  Monday  to  speak  to  you, 
and  I  gave  him  the  drops  you  advised.  He  is  now 
perfectly  well  and  has  not  had  one  fit  since.'  " 

In  "  reflecting  upon  the  case  of  the  poor  woman 
who  had  continually  pain  in  her  stomach,"  the 
great  preacher  could  not  but  remark  the  "in- 
excusable negligence  of  physicians,  who  pre- 
scribed drug  upon  drug,  without  knowing  a  jot  of 
the  matter  concerning  the  root  of  the  disorder, 
and  without  knowing  this  they  cannot  cure, 
though  they  can  murder  the  patient.  Why,  then, 
do  not  all  physicians  consider  how  far  bodily 


320  ESSAYS   IN   PURITANISM 

disorders  are  cured  or  influenced  by  the  mind ; 
and  why  are  these  cases  outside  of  their  sphere? 
Because  they  know  not  God."  All  this,  too, 
sounds  strangely  familiar  to  our  ears. 

He  did  not  find  the  state  of  the  profession  any 
better  in  Ireland,  and  all  his  spare  time  was  taken 
up  with  poor  patients.  "  Blisters  for  anything  or 
nothing  were  all  the  fashion  during  his  previous 
visit  to  Ireland ;  this  time,  the  grand  fashionable 
medicine  for  twenty  diseases  was  mercury  sub- 
limate. Why  is  it  not  a  halter  or  a  pistol  ?  They 
would  cure  a  little  more  speedily."  He  was  called 
to  a  house,  "  where  a  child  was  dying  of  the  small- 
pox, and  rescued  her  from  death  and  the  doctors, 
who  were  giving  her  saffron  to  drive  out  the 
disease." 

Nor  had  Wesley  a  very  high  opinion  of  the  law. 
In  the  early  part  of  his  life  he  "  first  saw  that 
foul  monster,  a  Chancery  Bill,  a  scroll  of  forty- 
two  pages  to  tell  a  story  which  needed  not  to  have 
taken  up  forty  lines,  stuffed  with  stupid,  senseless, 
improbable  lies,  many  of  them  quite  foreign  to  the 
question."  Twenty  years  later  he  saw  "the  fellow 
of  it,  which  was  called  a  Declaration,"  and  he  was 
led  to  enquire  :  "  Why  do  lawyers  lie  for  lying's 
sake,  unless  it  be  to  keep  their  hand  in." 

The  Journal  touches  life  at  every  point :  music. 


JOHN   WESLEY  321 

painting,  travel  by  land  and  by  sea,  books  and 
decoration,  farriery  and  farming,  food  and  drink, 
besides  the  deeper  matters  of  Calvinism  and  Anti- 
nomian  pietism.  After  listening  to  the  oratorio 
"Judith,"  he  records  with  some  vehemence : 
"  There  are  two  things  in  all  modern  music  which 
I  can  never  reconcile  to  common  sense  —  one  is 
singing  the  same  words  ten  times  over,  the  other 
is  singing  different  words  by  different  persons  at 
one  and  the  same  time."  He  was  particularly 
struck  by  a  picture  of  Rubens ;  yet  could  not  see 
"  either  the  decency  or  sense  of  painting  the  fig- 
ure stark  naked  ;  he  thought  it  shockingly  absurd, 
and  that  nothing  could  defend  or  excuse  the 
practice,  even  if  an  Indian  were  to  be  the  judge." 
From  his  experience  of  sea  travel  he  formulated 
the  very  sensible  rules  :  Never  pay  till  you  set 
sail ;  go  not  on  board  till  the  captain  goes,  and 
send  not  your  luggage  on  board  till  you  go  your- 
self. He  passed  judgement  upon  the  "  high  enco- 
miums which  have  been  for  many  years  bestowed  on 
a  country  life,"  in  the  words,  "  there  is  not  a  less 
happy  body  of  men  in  all  England  than  the  farm- 
ers ;  in  general  their  life  is  supremely  dull  and 
usually  unhappy  too."  He  conducted  many  experi- 
ments in  dietetics  upon  his  own  person,  in  the 
way  of  abstention  from  meat  and  alcohol,  and  for 


322  ESSAYS   IN  PURITANISM 

a  year  would  drink  nothing  but  water  —  a  form 
of  self-denial  which  was  apparently  less  common 
then  than  now. 

Wesley  was  a  man  of  education,  that  is  to  say, 
he  had  a  familiarity  with  all  the  writings  then 
extant.  The  names  of  Shakespeare,  Homer,  Vir- 
gil, Pascal,  Luther,  Dryden,  are  scattered  every- 
where in  his  Journal,  and  he  has  recorded  very 
pertinent  observations  upon  their  works.  The 
writings  of  Rousseau,  and  of  his  "  brother  infidel 
Voltaire,"  he  knew  very  well ;  Swedenborg  he 
thought  an  entertaining  madman ;  the  "  Senti- 
mental Journal  Through  France  and  Italy,"  he 
thought  should  read  "  Continental,  as  sentimental 
is  not  English ;  "  but  he  fully  approved  of  John- 
son's "  Tour,"  and  thought  the  "  observations  very 
judicious." 

We  are  continually  struck  by  evidence  of  his 
sound  sense,  which,  as  has  already  been  remarked, 
was  a  leading  family  trait.  Once  in  seven  years 
he  burnt  all  his  sermons,  thinking  it  a  shame  that 
he  could  not  write  better  ones  then  than  seven 
years  ago.  After  reading  a  book  to  prove  that 
the  moon  was  not  inhabited,  he  made  the  sensible 
observation :  "  I  know  that  the  earth  is ;  of  the 
rest  I  know  nothing."  A  reformed  pirate  once 
attempted  to  wean  him  away  from  the  habit  of 


JOHN  WESLEY  323 

writing  books,  on  the  ground  that  men  ought  to 
read  no  book  but  the  Bible.  But  the  wise  evan- 
gelist showed  his  good  judgement  by  declining 
"  to  enter  into  a  dispute  upon  religion  with  a  sea 
captain  seventy-five  years  old."  At  Edinburgh 
four  children  were  brought  for  baptism,  and  as  the 
visitor  had  previously  seen  the  minister  perform 
the  ceremony,  he  was  at  no  loss  how  to  proceed ; 
in  other  places  he  followed  the  practice  of  im- 
mersion. 

It  must  be  confessed,  on  the  other  side,  that 
Wesley  wrote  two  letters  to  the  newspapers,  and 
after  being  desired  for  nearly  forty  years  to  pub- 
lish a  magazine,  he  yielded  at  length,  and  began 
to  collect  materials  for  it.  Amongst  the  temporal 
business  he  had  to  settle  in  his  eighty-fourth  year 
was  the  dismissal  of  his  editor  for  "  causes  that 
were  insufferable."  He  had  borne  with  him  for 
twelve  years,  and  finally,  when  he  had  inserted 
in  the  magazine  "  several  pieces  of  verse,"  with- 
out the  proprietor's  knowledge,  that  gentle  pub- 
lisher could  endure  it  no  longer,  so  he  made 
an  effort  to  amend  the  editorial  management 
"  for  the  short  residue  of  his  life."  Looking 
at  the  "  Arminian,"  which  was  the  name  of  the 
magazine,  one  is  inclined  to  adopt  Wesley's  view 
of  the  case,  and  applaud  his  radical  measure. 


324  ESSAYS   IN  PURITANISM 

Wesley  had  a  pretty  gift  for  description.    The 
town  of  Clonmel  he  described  as  "  the  pleasantest 
beyond  all  comparison,  which  I  have  found  in 
Ireland.    It  has  four  broad,  straight  streets  of  red 
brick  houses  which  cross  each  other  in  the  centre 
of  the  town.    Close  to  the  walls  on  the  south  side 
runs  a  broad,  clear  river.    Beyond  this  rises  a 
green  and  fruitful  mountain,  which  hangs  over 
the  town.    The  vale  runs  many  miles  east  and 
west  and  is  well  cultivated."    The  observations 
which  he  made   upon  the  state  of  Ireland  are 
remarkably  just,  unless  the  Irish  have  been  sadly 
belied.    "  There  is  no  country  on  earth  where  it 
is  so  necessary  to  be  steadily  serious,"  he  writes, 
"  for  you  are  generally  encompassed  with  those 
who,  with   a  little  encouragement,  would  laugh 
and  trifle  from  morning  to  night."    At  Birr  he 
was  preaching  in  the  street  to  "  a  rude,  senseless 
multitude,"  when   a  Carmelite    friar   cried  out, 
"  You  lie."    "  Knock  the  friar  down,"  the  audi- 
ence shouted ;  "  and  it  was  no  sooner  said  than 
done." 

Edinburgh  he  thought  the  dirtiest  city  he  had 
ever  seen,  "not  excepting  Colen  in  Germany. 
The  situation  of  the  city  on  a  hill  shelving  down 
on  both  sides,  with  the  stately  castle  upon  a 
craggy   rock,    is   inexpressibly   fine.    The    main 


JOHN  WESLEY  325 

street,  so  broad  and  finely  paved,  is  far  beyond 
any  in  Great  Britain  ;  but  how  can  it  be  suffered 
that  all  manner  of  filth  should  be  thrown  into  it 
continually  ?  Where  is  the  magistracy,  the  gentry, 
and  the  nobility  of  the  land,  that  they  allow  the 
capital  city  of  Scotland,  yea,  and  the  chief  street 
in  it,  to  stink  worse  than  a  common  sewer?  I 
spoke  to  them  as  plain  as  ever  I  did  in  my  life, 
but  I  never  knew  any  in  Scotland  offended  at 
plain  speaking."  Dumfries  he  found  to  be  a 
clean,  well-built  town,  having  two  elegant  churches, 
the  mountains  high  but  extremely  pleasant. 

The  itinerant  evangelist  was  greatly  surprised 
at  the  entertainment  which  he  received  in  Scot- 
land. The  food  proved  to  be  good,  cheap,  in  great 
abundance,  clean  as  any  one  could  desire,  and  well 
dressed.  Above  all,  he  was  amazed  that  "  not  any 
person  did  move  any  dispute  of  any  kind,  nor  ask 
him  any  questions  concerning  his  opinions,  so  that 
the  prejudice  which  the  Devil  had  been  several 
years  planting-  was  torn  up  by  the  roots  in  one 
hour."  Every  Scotchman  knows  where  that  pre- 
judice comes  from,  but  it  is  not  often  that  an 
Enoflishman  makes  so  clear  an  avowal. 

The  Scotch  character  was  ever  a  source  of  won- 
der to  Wesley,  as  to  many  a  foreigner  before  and 
since.   Upon  one  occasion  he  spent  some  hours  in 


326  ESSAYS  IN  PURITANISM 

the  General  Assembly,  and  was  surprised  to  find 
that  any  one  was  admitted,  even  lads  twelve  or 
fourteen  years  old ;  that  the  chief  speakers  were 
lawyers ;  that  a  single  question  took  up  the  whole 
time,  "  which,  when  I  went  away,  seemed  to  be  as 
far  removed  from  a  conclusion  as  ever,  namely, 
'  Shall  Mr.  Lindsay  be  removed  to  Kilmarnock 
Parish  or  not  ? '  Indeed,"  he  observed,  "  there  is 
seldom  fear  of  wanting  a  congregation  in  Scot- 
land ;  but  the  misfortune  is  they  know  everything, 
so  they  learn  nothing.  Every  one  here  loves  at 
least  to  hear  the  word  of  God.  Certain  this  is 
a  nation  swift  to  hear  and  slow  to  speak,  though 
not  slow  to  wrath."  The  implication  is  very 
subtle,  that  in  the  Scotch  mind  the  whole  duty 
of  man  ends  with  the  hearing  of  the  Word.  He 
went  to  church  in  Aberdeen,  and  though  he  lis- 
tened with  all  his  attention  he  only  understood 
two  words,  "  Balak  "  in  the  first  lesson,  and  "  be- 
gat" in  the  second. 

In  Edinburgh  he  went  so  far  as  to  sing  a 
Scotch  psalm,  "and  fifteen  or  twenty  people 
came  within  hearing,  but  with  great  circumspec- 
tion, keeping  at  their  distance  as  though  they 
knew  not  what  might  follow."  At  Inverness  he 
was  struck  by  the  remarkable  seriousness  of  the 
people  —  an  observation  that  has  been  made  by 


JOHN  WESLEY  327 

less  acute  persons  —  though  he  thought  this  less 
surprising,  when  he  considered  that  at  least  for  a 
hundred  years  they  had  had  a  succession  of  pious 
ministers.  Finally  he  adds  :  "  Amongst  all  the 
sins  they  have  imported  from  England,  the  Scots 
have  not  yet  learned  to  scoff  at  sacred  things." 
It  has  always  been  a  fixed  belief  in  Scotland  that 
any  evil  which  manifested  itself  north  of  the 
Tweed  was  received  from  some  extraneous  source 
—  from  England,  or  France,  or  from  the  Devil. 

Wesley  witnessed  the  celebration  of  the  com- 
munion in  the  West  Kirk,  Edinburgh,  and  from 
his  description  it  would  appear  to  this  day  that 
the  Church  of  Scotland  is  faithful  to  its  tradi- 
tions. "  After  the  usual  morning  service  the  min- 
ister enumerated  several  sorts  of  sinners,  whom 
he  forbade  to  approach  to  the  table,  and  I  was 
informed  that  the  communion  usually  lasted  till 
five  in  the  evening."  Wesley  should  be  the  last 
person  to  complain  of  the  length  of  a  service,  for 
he  habitually  preached  for  three  hours  at  a  time, 
and  sometimes  far  into  the  night.  However,  after 
visiting  Scotland  with  a  fair  degree  of  regularity 
up  to  his  seventy-seventh  year,  he  made  the  hu- 
miliating discovery,  "  that  he  was  not  a  preacher 
for  the  people  of  Edinburgh."  Upon  this  last 
visit  he  writes :  "  I  did  not  shun  to  declare  the 


328  ESSAYS   IN  PURITANISM 

whole  counsel  of  God,  and  yet  the  people  hear  and 
hear,  and  are  just  what  they  were  before." 

Wesley  had  the  same  peculiar  genius  as  George 
Borrow  for  chance  encounter  with  rare  characters, 
and  as  that  genius  is  usually  associated  with  the 
literary  gift,  it  is  hard  to  know  just  how  much 
reliance  is  to  be  placed  upon  the  accounts  of  what 
is  alleged  to  have  taken  place.  Certainly  the 
accounts  as  we  have  them  are  amusing.  In  Bris- 
tol he  lit  upon  a  "  poor,  pretty,  fluttering  thing, 
lately  come  from  Ireland,  and  going  to  be  a  singer 
in  a  playhouse.  She  went  in  the  evening  to  the 
chapel,  and  thence  to  watch-night,  and  was  almost 
persuaded  to  be  a  Christian." 

At  Hull  the  coach  in  which  he  was  crowded  was 
attacked  by  a  mob,  who  threw  in  at  the  windows 
whatever  came  next  to  hand ;  but  a  large  gentle- 
woman who  sat  in  his  lap  screened  him  so  that 
nothing  came  near  him.  Going  up  a  steep  narrow 
passage  from  the  sea,  he  encountered  a  man  at 
the  top,  and  looking  him  in  the  face  said :  "  I  wish 
you  a  good-night."  The  man  "  spoke  not,  nor 
moved  hand  or  foot,"  but  replied  to  the  civil 
salutation,  "  I  wish  you  was  in  hell." 

Upon  a  certain  visit  to  London  he  was  "  nobly 
attended : "  behind  him  on  the  coach  were  ten 
convicted  felons,  loudly  blaspheming  and  rattling 


JOHN   WESLEY  329 

their  chains.  By  his  side  sat  a  man  with  a  loaded 
blunderbuss,  and  another  upon  the  box. 

At  Newark  one  big  man,  "  exceeding  drunk,  was 
very  noisy  and  turbulent  till  his  wife  seized  him 
by  the  collar,  gave  him  two  or  three  hearty  boxes 
on  the  ear,  and  dragged  him  away  like  a  calf." 

At  Tullamore  he  met  a  man  who  had  been  under 
water  full  twenty  minutes,  "  which  made  him  more 
serious  for  two  or  three  months."  In  the  midst  of 
a  sermon,  the  preacher  saw  a  large  cat  leap  down 
upon  a  woman's  head,  and  run  over  the  heads  and 
shoulders  of  many  more,  "  but  none  of  them  cried 
out  any  more  than  if  it  had  been  a  butterfly."  At 
Rotherham,  an  ass  walked  gravely  in  at  the  gate, 
came  up  to  the  door  of  the  house,  and  stood  stock 
still  in  a  posture  of  deep  attention.  "  It  is  well," 
Wesley  adds,  "only  serious  persons  were  present." 
Near  Bradford,  "  the  beasts  of  the  people  lifted 
up  their  voice,  especially  one  called  a  gentleman, 
who  had  filled  his  pockets  with  rotten  eggs ;  but 
a  young  man  coming  unawares  clapped  his  hand 
on  each  side  and  mashed  them  all  at  once,  and  he 
was  perfume  all  over."  At  Brough  in  Westmore- 
land, he  preached  "  at  a  farmer's  house  under  some 
shady  trees,  when  a  little  bird  perched  on  a  branch 
and  sang  without  intermission,  from  the  beginning 
of  the  service  to  the  end." 

A 


330  ESSAYS  IN  PURITANISM 

The  following  bit  of  narrative  is  inimitable 
even  by  the  author  of  "  Lavengro  :  "  A  poor  man, 
special  drunk,  came  marching  down  the  street 
with  a  club  in  one  hand  and  a  large  cleaver  in  the 
other,  grievously  cursing  and  blaspheming,  and 
swearing  he  would  cut  the  preacher's  head  off. 
When  he  came  nearer,  the  Mayor  stepped  out  of 
the  congregation,  and  strove  by  good  words  to 
make  him  quiet,  but  could  not  prevail ;  on  which 
he  went  into  his  house  and  returned  with  his 
white  wand.  At  the  same  time  he  sent  for  the  con- 
stables, who  presently  came  with  their  staves.  He 
charged  them  not  to  strike  the  man  unless  he 
struck  first ;  but  this  he  did,  as  soon  as  they  came 
within  reach,  and  wounded  one  of  them  in  the 
wrist.  On  this  the  other  knocked  him  down,  which 
he  did  three  times  before  he  would  submit.  The 
Mayor  then  walked  before  the  constables  on 
either  hand,  and  so  conducted  the  man  to  gaol. 

Wesley  toiled  at  his  desk  as  well  as  upon  the 
road.  He  wrote  books,  dedicating  to  them  the 
hours  from  five  in  the  morning  till  eight  at  night, 
which  was  "  all  the  time  he  could  spare."  He 
would  write  a  sermon  or  a  tract  as  he  sat  upon  a 
stone  waiting  for  a  ferryman,  and  if  they  were  as 
hard  to  write  as  they  are  to  read  it  was  a  marvel- 
lous  feat   of  endurance.     The  bulk  of   printed 


JOHN   WESLEY  331 

material  which  he  left  behind  him  is  incredible, 
and  the  task  of  mastering  it  can  only  be  likened 
to  reading  the  contents  of  a  theological  library  or 
a  Methodist  "  book  concern  "  —  concern  is  the 
proper  term  to  employ.  His  writings  are  not 
books,  they  are  in  reality  concerns.  Even  during 
the  period  of  his  courtship  —  a  short  period  it  is 
true  —  whilst  he  was  confined  to  the  house  with 
a  sprained  sinew,  he  emplo3"ed  his  time  in  writing 
a  Hebrew  Grammar  and  lessons  for  children  ;  he 
had  previously  constructed  a  grammar  of  the 
Greek  and  French  languages. 

"  Make  poetry  your  diversion,  not  your  busi- 
ness," was  the  advice  given  to  Wesley  by  his  wise 
old  mother,  and  it  would  have  been  well  if  he  had 
submitted  cheerfully  to  the  injunction.  He  wrote 
rhymes  upon  all  occasions ;  he  made  hymns 
which,  at  first,  look  well  and  sound  well,  but  they 
never  rise  into  the  clear  atmosphere  of  poetry, 
much  less  of  spiritual  attainment.  During  half 
a  century  he  and  his  brother  issued  nearly  forty 
hymnologies,  which  were  of  much  greater  value 
in  those  days  than  they  are  now.  This  humane 
man  had  a  passion  for  falling  in  love  and  for 
writing  verses ;  he  was  thoroughly  cured  of  the 
one,  but  he  never  was  able  to  eradicate  the  other 
quality  from  his  nature. 


332  ESSAYS  IN  PURITANISM 

The  fact  that  stands  out  most  clearly  in  Wes- 
ley's teaching  is  that  conversion  must  be  followed 
by  amendment  of  conduct  in  every  relation  of 
life,  a  fact  which  many  of  those  who  are  called 
by  his  name  have  lost  sight  of.  He  spoke  with 
those  who  had  votes  in  an  ensuing  election ;  he 
would  not  allow  them  to  eat  or  drink  at  the 
expense  of  him  for  whom  they  voted  ;  five  guineas 
had  been  given  to  one  member  of  the  society,  but 
the  virtuous  elector  returned  them  immediately, 
and  when  he  learned  that  his  mother  had  received 
money  privately,  he  could  not  rest  till  she  had 
sent  it  back.  Wesley  expelled  dishonest  debtors, 
and  the  defrauding  of  the  revenue  was  not  toler- 
ated by  him.  He  told  the  society  at  Sunderland, 
specifically,  that  none  could  stay  in  it  unless  they 
parted  from  all  sin,  particularly  "robbing  the 
King,  selling  or  buying  smuggled  goods,  which 
he  would  no  more  suffer  than  robbing  in  the 
highway."  In  Norwich  he  told  the  society  in 
plain  terms  that  they  were  the  most  ignorant, 
self-conceited,  self-willed,  fickle,  intractable,  dis- 
orderly persons  he  knew  in  the  three  kingdoms, 
and  "  God  applied  it  to  their  hearts." 

Another  discovery  of  Wesley's  was,  "  that 
the  preaching  like  an  apostle,  without  joining 
together  those  that  are  awakened,  and  training 


JOHN  WESLEY  333 

them  up  in  the  ways  of  God,  was  only  begetting 
children  for  the  executioner;  without  discipline 
nine  in  ten  of  the  once  awakened  were  soon  faster 
asleep  than  ever."  To  this  end  he  established 
societies,  classes,  and  bands,  with  leaders,  helpers, 
and  stewards.  They  were  entirely  non-sectarian 
in  character,  but  pressure  from  without,  espe- 
cially the  denial  of  the  sacraments  to  them,  drove 
them  into  the  form  of  a  sect  or  church,  though 
Wesley  strove  against  the  development  continu- 
ally, and  warned  the  people  against  the  madness 
of  leaving  the  Church.  Toward  the  end  of  his 
life,  however,  he  saw  that  the  movement  was 
irresistible ;  and  he  took  the  high  ground  that  he 
had  as  much  right  as  any  primitive  missionary 
bishop  to  ordain  officials  to  administer  the  rites 
of  an  organization,  which  had  now  grown  into 
a  church ;  as  the  connection  grew,  the  possession 
of  property  was  forced  upon  it,  and  to  conserve 
it  he  was  obliged  to  throw  the  societies  into  legal 
form. 

At  the  very  beginning  of  his  work,  Wesley 
displayed  that  capacity  for  organization  which 
finally  brought  his  followers  together  as  a  distinct 
sect,  and  after  his  death  enabled  them  to  rise  to 
the  dignity  of  a  church.  He  built  and  acquired 
meeting-houses  —  a  name  he  abhorred  ;  he  estab- 


334  ESSAYS  IN  PURITANISM 

lished  labour  colonies,  to  keep  the  needy  amongst 
his  followers  from  want  and  idleness.  He  was 
continually  propagating  schemes  for  the  payment 
of  debts,  a  form  of  activity  from  which  the  leaders 
of  the  Methodist  Church  are  not  yet  wholly  free. 
He  raised  money  for  the  clothing  of  the  French 
soldiers,  who  were  living  in  misery  in  English 
prisons,  appealing  to  the  people  in  the  strong 
words  :  *'  Thou  shalt  not  oppress  the  stranger, 
for  ye  know  the  heart  of  a  stranger,  seeing  ye 
were  strangers  in  the  land  of  Egypt."  His  pri- 
vate charity  was  unbounded  and  it  was  given 
with  open  eyes  as  well  as  with  open  hand.  After 
relieving  the  necessity  of  a  certain  Dutchman, 
he  makes  the  wise  observation,  "I  never  saw 
him  since,  and  reason  good,  for  he  could  now  live 
without  me." 

Wesley's  bodily  vigour,  his  unfailing  health,  his 
capacity  for  enduring  hardships  and  toil,  have 
been  a  source  of  wonder  from  his  time  to  our 
own.  He  preached  three  and  four  times  a  day. 
He  rarely  rode  less  than  five  thousand  miles  in 
a  year,  and  some  days  from  seventy  to  ninety ; 
he  was  beaten  and  stoned  ;  he  lay  in  the  open  air 
till  his  clothes  were  covered  with  frost ;  and  he 
was  drenched  with  the  seas  of  the  Irish  Channel. 
His  constitution  does  not  appear  to  have  been 


JOHN  WESLEY  335 

unusually  robust.  From  ten  to  thirteen,  that  is 
when  he  was  a  scholar  at  the  Charterhouse,  and 
the  bigger  boys  used  to  seize  the  little  fellows' 
meat,  he  tells  us  that  he  had  little  but  bread  to 
eat,  and  not  plenty  of  that ;  all  his  life  he  ate 
sparingly,  and  drank  only  water  ;  at  seven  and 
twenty  he  began  spitting  blood,  and  that  con- 
tinued for  several  years.  He  was  brought  to  the 
brink  of  death  by  a  fever,  and  afterwards  fell 
into  the  third  stage  of  consumption  ;  though,  for 
all  his  medical  knowledge,  we  may  well  question 
his  diagnosis  of  his  own  case.  Yet  upon  his 
seventy-second  birthday,  he  was  led  to  consider 
how  it  was  that  he  found  just  the  same  strength 
as  he  did  thirty  years  before ;  that  his  sight  was 
better  and  his  nerves  firmer  ;  that  he  had  none 
of  the  infirmities  of  old  age,  and  had  lost  several 
which  he  possessed  in  his  youth. 

Toward  the  end,  as  is  ever  the  habit  with  old 
men,  Wesley  occupies  the  pages  of  his  Journal 
with  considerations  of  his  youthfulness  and  his 
phenomenal  health.  After  much  discussion  he 
concludes  that  his  good  physical  condition  was 
due  to  his  rising  at  four  o'clock  for  about  fifty 
years,  to  his  practice  of  preaching  at  five  o'clock 
in  the  morning,  which,  he  assures  us,  was  one  of 
the  most  healthful  exercises  in  the  world,  and  to 


336  ESSAYS  IN   PURITANISM 

never  travelling  less,  by  sea  or  land,  than  4500 
miles  in  the  year.  This  view  of  preaching  as 
a  healthy  exercise  is  a  new  one,  and  a  hygienic 
precaution,  which,  it  is  hoped,  will  not  be  too 
generally  followed.  One  reads  with  envious  long- 
ing of  his  gift  for  sleeping,  and  would  willingly 
accept  the  most  ultimate  tenets  of  Methodism,  if 
only  they  were  accompanied  by  Wesley's  "  ability, 
if  ever  I  want,  to  sleep  immediately."  Probably 
that  is  a  vain  hope,  unless  it  also  brought  his 
evenness  of  temper :  "  I  feel  and  grieve,  yet  I  fret 
at  nothing." 

The  accounts  of  his  growing  age  are  pathetic. 
He  found  that  with  increasing  years  he  walked 
slower,  that  his  memory  was  not  so  quick,  that 
he  could  not  read  so  well  by  candle-light.  At 
eighty-five  he  was  not  so  agile,  and  could  not  run 
so  fast  as  formerly ;  he  found  his  left  eye  grow 
dim,  some  pain  in  the  temple  from  an  old  blow 
of  a  stone,  yet  he  felt  no  such  thing  as  weariness 
in  travelling  and  preaching,  and  was  not  conscious 
of  any  decay  in  writing  his  sermons.  In  the  last 
year  of  his  life  —  he  died  at  87  —  he  confesses 
that  his  eyes  are  dim,  his  hand  trembling,  his 
motions  weak  and  slow,  yet  he  felt  no  pain  from 
head  to  foot ;  only,  it  seemed  as  if  "  nature  was 
exhausted."  And  so  it  was. 


JOHN   WESLEY  337 

Prophecy  is  not  an  exact  science.  The  issue  of 
it  is  ever  uncertain ;  but  if  the  prophets  were  to 
agree,  the  thing  would  come  to  pass.  The  He- 
brew prophets  prophesied  for  a  thousand  years, 
and  the  Messiah  came.  They  were  a  little  astray 
in  their  geographical  predictions  and  in  some 
other  details ;  but  in  the  main  they  were  right, 
because  they  relied  upon  the  profound  knowledge 
that  religious  aspiration  is  a  primal  instinct,  like 
the  desire  for  food  or  the  passion  for  propagat- 
ing the  species.  The  bloodiest  savages  possess 
it ;  the  great  Apostle  testified  to  its  immanence 
amongst  the  Athenians,  and  we  are  not  yet  grown 
so  mighty  that  we  have  put  it  underfoot.  The 
voice  has  been  still  and  small  these  forty  years, 
whilst  we  have  been  wandering  in  the  scientific 
wilderness.  But  the  spirit  of  religion  "revives, 
reflourishes,  then  vigorous  most  when  most  inact- 
ive deemed."    Of  science  we  may  now  say : 

His  giantship  is  gone  somewhat  crest-fallen, 
Stalking  with  less  unconscionable  strides. 

The  strife  is  over ;  and  silence  has  fallen  upon 
the  clatter  of  Huxley's  shrewd  knocks,  upon  the 
wild  outcries  of  Bishop  Wilberforce,  and  the 
tumult  of  the  crowds  which  stood  afar  off  to  wit- 
ness the  conflict,  and  either  lamented  or  blas- 
phemed.   We   have  settled   all  that.    We  have 


338  ESSAYS  IN  PURITANISM 

relegated  the  theologians  to  their  own  place, 
along  with  the  logicians  and  the  schoolmen. 
They  had  been  fighting  a  corporeal  presence  with 
a  fine  dialectical  point.  The  scientists  were 
thrusting  at  a  spirit  with  their  clumsy  weapons. 
We  have  sent  Science  back  to  its  laboratories, 
and  every  time  it  performs  something  useful  to 
humanity  we  shall  hear  it  gladly. 

DuU  thing-,  I  say  so,  that  Caliban 
Whom  now  I  keep  in  silence.  .  .  .  But,  as  'tis, 
We  cannot  miss  him :  he  does  make  our  fire, 
Fetch  in  our  wood,  and  serve  in  offices 
That  profit  us. 

If  one  were  engaged  in  the  laborious  exercise 
of  writing  a  tract,  he  might  enlarge  upon  this ; 
but  for  the  present  I  shall  content  myself  with 
one  remark.  The  Spirit  of  Religion,  which  is  the 
larger  part  of  Puritanism,  is  reviving ;  it  is 
amongst  the  men  of  science  —  the  men  who 
habitually  deal  with  truth  —  that  its  operation 
is  most  clearly  manifest,  though  probably  some 
of  them  will  be  swift  to  deny  the  amiable  charge. 
It  is  also  manifest  amongst  the  toilers  for  their 
daily  bread,  who  deal  with  truth  of  another  kind. 
They  are  saying  at  this  moment. 

Be  of  g-ood  courage ;  I  begin  to  feel 

Some  rousing-  motions  in  me,  which  dispose 

To  something  extraordinary  my  thoughts. 


JOHN  WESLEY  339 

"  The  law  is  a  schoolmaster  to  bring  us  unto 
Christ,"  said  Saint  Paul.  There  is  a  law  of  fear 
and  a  law  of  love.  It  is  a  strange  phenomenon 
of  the  human  mind  that  the  thing  which  we  fear 
greatly  and  justly,  we  afterwards  grow  to  love. 
All  men  fear  Death ;  in  the  end  they  come  to 
love  it.  The  voice  of  the  Old  Testament  is,  fear 
God.  The  Puritans,  according  to  the  saying  of 
Joubert,  were  children  of  the  Old  Testament. 
In  New  England  they  were  led  into  a  new  and 
better  way  by  the  spirit  of  the  time,  which  was 
revealed  chiefly  in  the  Unitarian  movement.  In 
England  the  voice  which  bade  fear  give  place  to 
love  was  the  voice  of  Methodism.  It  was  through 
John  Wesley  that  voice  was  given  to  the  world. 

But  even  that  is  not  enough  for  us.  We  have 
done  with  fear.  We  have  need  for  love.  And 
lest  it  be  forgotten  that  I  am  speaking  to  a  com- 
pany of  artists,  I  shall  say  that  we  have  the  need 
also  for  beauty.  In  the  future  what  is  good  in 
Puritanism  we  shall  have  ;  that  is,  the  beauty  of 
holiness.  What  is  ofood  in  Science  we  shall  have 
—  the  beauty  of  Truth.  What  is  good  in  Art  we 
shall  have  —  the  beauty  of  Nature. 


Electrotyped  and  printed  by  H.  O.  Hmighton  &=  Co. 
Cambridge,  Mass.,  U.  S.  A. 


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